CoolWiki - User contributions [en]

Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Current Research Activities

2011-01-15T15:18:21Z

Decoster: /* Click here for Science Poster Abstract */

=[[Winter AAS Visit 2011]]=
[[File:VarStarsAAS2011ed.jpg|600px|thumb|center|VarStars with Education Poster AAS 1/11/11]]
[[File:VarStarsAAS2011sci.jpg|600px|thumb|center|VarStars with Education and Science Poster to be presented 1/12/11]]
===[[Luisa's AAS Scavenger Hunt]]===
Dr. Rebull put together a list of people, places, things that we should check out at the AAS. Click on your name and document your time with words and pictures! 

==[[Rebecca AAS]]==

==[[Joey AAS]]==

==[[Justin AAS]]==

==[[Alex AAS]]==

==[[Aneesh AAS]]==

==[[Olivia AAS]]==

==[[Mr DeCoster AAS]]==

==[[Mrs Thomas AAS ]]==

==[[Mrs Piper AAS]]==
more pics here!!!

 

==Click here for [http://e.ctt.bz/e.asp?e=FD7FA1FF-C16B-40A4-AA45-5BED95A7F640 Science Poster Abstract] ==

[[File:Science_VarStar_Poster_Paint.JPG|600px|thumb|center]]

==Click here for[http://e.ctt.bz/e.asp?e=5217F70A-5448-4E37-B417-ECBAC69097C5 Education Poster Abstract] ==

[[File:EducationPoster.jpg|600px|thumb|center]]

 
[[Poster working docs]]

 

=[[Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Proposal]]=

'''Here is the link to our Spring 2010 proposal http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/teacher_research/r4-variab/variabProposal.pdf'''

[[File:VariableFamily.jpg|600px|thumb|center]]
=[[Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Summer visit]]=

We will be arriving on Thursday Aug 5, departing Aug 9 in hopes of working the three full days of Aug 6, 7 and 8. '''[[Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Summer visit | CLICK HERE for details]]'''

=[[Caltech Summer Visit Discussion ]]=
Star field names, # of stars, # of images and teams are listed here.
 

[[File:Spitzer_JPL_visit.jpeg|600px|thumb|center|JPL Visit August 2010]] 
===[[Luisa's thought provoking Journal Prompts]]===
[[Click here for VarStar Responses to Louisa!]]

 

= [[Generating Light Curves - APT and Excel ]] =

You can find info to help you practice using APT to generate light curves on this page.

[[File:test stars comp.jpg]]

== Standard Deviation for Dummies ==

Our Astronomers said it would be important for us to understand standard deviation. We found the button on Excel that calculates it for us, but doesn't really explain what it is. Here's an explanation and example.

Standard deviation is a statistical measure of spread or variability. The standard deviation is tells you how closely the data are clustered around the average. We want to use the aperture and background subtraction settings that give us the smallest standard deviation for a star that is not varying. Our varying stars will of course have large standard deviations because they ARE varying.

Formula: [[image:stddev.jpg]]

Standard Deviation
standard deviation formula

where Σ = Sum of
X = Individual score
M = Mean (average) of all scores
N = Sample size (Number of scores)

'''Example: Find the Standard deviation of 3,2,1,1,and 3'''

Step 1: Calculate the mean (average) and deviation.
{| border="1"
|-
|'''X'''
|'''M'''
|'''(X-M)'''
|'''(X-M)2'''
|-
|3
|2
|1
|1
|-
|2
|2
|0
|0
|-
|1
|2
|(-1)
|1
|-
|-
|1
|2
|(-1)
|1
|-
|3
|2
|1
|1
|-
|}

Step 2:Find the sum of (X-M)2
1+0+1+1+1 = 4

Step 3:N = 5, the total number of values.Find N-1.
5-1 = 4

Step 4:Now find Standard Deviation using the formula.
√4/√4 = 1

= '''Individual School Pages''' =
== '''Communicating on Wiki!!!''' ==
Wiki will tell you when anyone makes an edit or comment to any page if you 
 -log in, click on my preferences, put your whole name in for your signature if you want, check off all of the boxes at the bottom to turn on the email function
 -go to the pages you want to "watch" and click on on the Watch tab, you'll get an email if there is a change to these pages
 -watch your practice page and everyone elses practice pages for now so you know any of us make a comment or put up something new
 -'''Please''' make comments using the discussion tab on anything and everything right now!
 -if you feel the urge to make the comment on the actual page, that's ok for any pages under Variability of the Mid IR Sky seeing that these are our pages, but if you comment on the main coolwiki, use the discussion page.

==='''[[Here's some examples of how to edit a wiki page]]'''===
 

== [[Lincoln-Way North High School in Frankfort, Illinois]] ==
[[Image:Phoenix.jpg]][[Image:LWN.jpg]][[Image:Phoenix.jpg]] 
'''Teacher - Peggy Piper - Students - Joey R. - Rebecca R. - Justin C.''' 
Here are our light curves with standard deviations for the three test stars using Source Model B. From top to bottom in each graph, they are stars #1, #2, and #3. 

'''Mrs. P Question to you - which aperture background should we choose? Why?
 

Joey's Data for Aperture 3, Background 10 20 
[[File:Joey 3 10 20.jpg|600px|thumb|center|Joey aperture 3 background 10-20]]

Rebecca's Data for Aperture 5, Background 5 10
 
[[File:Rebecca5510.jpg|600px|thumb|center|Rebecca aperture 5 background 5-10]]

Joey's Data for Aperture 10, Background 12 20 
[[File:Joey 10 12 20.jpg|600px|thumb|center|Joey aperture 10 background 12-20]]

===[[LWN Data Files | CLICK HERE for our working data]]===
 

===[[LWN Student Practice Pages]]===
 

=== [[Mars pics for Mr. DeCoster]] ===

I moved these to their own page to take up less space --Peggy Piper 10:10, 29 July 2010 (PDT) 

== [[Niles West High School in Skokie, Illinois]] ==

Teacher - Rich DeCoster 
Student - Alex 
Student - Aneesh
 

[[File:SkokieFamily.jpg|600px|thumb|center]]

===[[Determining Fields - Rich images and links]]===
Here's Rich's work from when we first were determining which fields to use. I think it probably ties in well with Alex's very nice tutorial:)--Peggy Piper 10:06, 29 July 2010 (PDT) 

===[[Identifying Objects in ds9: a Pictorial Tutorial by Alex Antonow]]===
 

Here are two light curves by Alex 
[[image:Var Star with Avg.jpg|thumb|600px|center]] 
[[Media:APT_star_1_and_2.xls]] 

 

===[[Niles West Student Observing Pages]]===

 
===[[Niles West Student Practice Pages]]===
 

== [[North Middle School, Great Falls, Montana]] ==

click on title above to get page to edit

Teacher - Beth Thomas
Student - Drew B.
Student - Olivia R.
 

[[File:Montanans.jpg]]

=Summer Discussion Topics=

==How Does Spitzer Work==

So let's start looking into the details of how Spitzer works! I put a few subheadings below, we can add more as we go. Lets start with the mission. How 'bouts each of you come up with some facts about the history, the purpose, the reason Spizter was launched. There's plenty of info and links on this coolwiki.

Rules:

# come up with and list 5 facts (not here, on History/Mission page!)
# you can't repeat someone else's fact (if you do this soon, its easier - poor Joey's out of town til Sat!)
# once facts are up, come up with several questions about someone else's facts and post them below the fact (make sure you hit the signature button so we know who's talking)

This time we'll talk right on the topic page instead of the discussion page.Click on History/Mission to see how I started. Ha - I took the easy ones!

===[[History/Mission]]===

===[[Physical Aspects]]===

===[[IR Channels]]===
 

==[[Variable Stars]]==

http://aavso.org/vstar/

===[[Studying Variable Stars]]===

Here's the link to some variable star lessons Beth put together - very nice!
 

==[[Acronyms and Vocab and Our Proposal, Oh my!! ]]==
ya know...Lion's and Tiger's and Bear's, Oh my!!

==[[Our Glorious Leaders]]==

Most Definitely a couple of Cool Dudes

[[File:cooldudes.jpg]]

[[Media:DonSteveArt2008.pdf | Here is link to ‘‘DARK MATTER’’ IN ACCRETION DISKS by Steve Howell and Don Hoard that is of interest]]
 

=Other items=
This is Rich. I hope I am not causing confusion. It is 11:15 am CST on Friday Jan. 22, 2010. I am trying to see what this does, since I have "editing" status here. Is this something we use instead of email, or is it a place to create documents that we edit together?
Rich
ps-Should something like this be in the "discussion" tab rather than the "article" tab?

Hi Rich - no, you're not causing confusion, you're doing it exactly right! These pages under "current research activities" are really sort of "shared white boards". The other half of the wiki (under "research tools") are more articles, and in those cases, yes, questions should go into the discussion pages. I copied some headers in here, but please see some of the "current research activity" pages for the other current teams to see how they are using their pages. (e.g., [[CG4_Current_Research_Activities| cg4's page]]) Oh, and you can use this for whatever you want -- proposal preparation, conversation, sharing plots, brainstorming, etc. --[[User:Rebull|Rebull]] 13:12, 22 January 2010 (PST)

Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Current Research Activities

2011-01-15T15:12:09Z

Decoster: /* Click here for Science Poster Abstract */

=[[Winter AAS Visit 2011]]=
[[File:VarStarsAAS2011ed.jpg|600px|thumb|center|VarStars with Education Poster AAS 1/11/11]]
[[File:VarStarsAAS2011sci.jpg|600px|thumb|center|VarStars with Education and Science Poster to be presented 1/12/11]]
===[[Luisa's AAS Scavenger Hunt]]===
Dr. Rebull put together a list of people, places, things that we should check out at the AAS. Click on your name and document your time with words and pictures! 

==[[Rebecca AAS]]==

==[[Joey AAS]]==

==[[Justin AAS]]==

==[[Alex AAS]]==

==[[Aneesh AAS]]==

==[[Olivia AAS]]==

==[[Mr DeCoster AAS]]==

==[[Mrs Thomas AAS ]]==

==[[Mrs Piper AAS]]==
more pics here!!!

 

==Click here for [http://e.ctt.bz/e.asp?e=FD7FA1FF-C16B-40A4-AA45-5BED95A7F640 Science Poster Abstract] ==

[[File:Science_VarStar_Poster_Paint.JPG]]

==Click here for[http://e.ctt.bz/e.asp?e=5217F70A-5448-4E37-B417-ECBAC69097C5 Education Poster Abstract] ==

[[File:EducationPoster.jpg|600px|thumb|center]]

 
[[Poster working docs]]

 

=[[Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Proposal]]=

'''Here is the link to our Spring 2010 proposal http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/teacher_research/r4-variab/variabProposal.pdf'''

[[File:VariableFamily.jpg|600px|thumb|center]]
=[[Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Summer visit]]=

We will be arriving on Thursday Aug 5, departing Aug 9 in hopes of working the three full days of Aug 6, 7 and 8. '''[[Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Summer visit | CLICK HERE for details]]'''

=[[Caltech Summer Visit Discussion ]]=
Star field names, # of stars, # of images and teams are listed here.
 

[[File:Spitzer_JPL_visit.jpeg|600px|thumb|center|JPL Visit August 2010]] 
===[[Luisa's thought provoking Journal Prompts]]===
[[Click here for VarStar Responses to Louisa!]]

 

= [[Generating Light Curves - APT and Excel ]] =

You can find info to help you practice using APT to generate light curves on this page.

[[File:test stars comp.jpg]]

== Standard Deviation for Dummies ==

Our Astronomers said it would be important for us to understand standard deviation. We found the button on Excel that calculates it for us, but doesn't really explain what it is. Here's an explanation and example.

Standard deviation is a statistical measure of spread or variability. The standard deviation is tells you how closely the data are clustered around the average. We want to use the aperture and background subtraction settings that give us the smallest standard deviation for a star that is not varying. Our varying stars will of course have large standard deviations because they ARE varying.

Formula: [[image:stddev.jpg]]

Standard Deviation
standard deviation formula

where Σ = Sum of
X = Individual score
M = Mean (average) of all scores
N = Sample size (Number of scores)

'''Example: Find the Standard deviation of 3,2,1,1,and 3'''

Step 1: Calculate the mean (average) and deviation.
{| border="1"
|-
|'''X'''
|'''M'''
|'''(X-M)'''
|'''(X-M)2'''
|-
|3
|2
|1
|1
|-
|2
|2
|0
|0
|-
|1
|2
|(-1)
|1
|-
|-
|1
|2
|(-1)
|1
|-
|3
|2
|1
|1
|-
|}

Step 2:Find the sum of (X-M)2
1+0+1+1+1 = 4

Step 3:N = 5, the total number of values.Find N-1.
5-1 = 4

Step 4:Now find Standard Deviation using the formula.
√4/√4 = 1

= '''Individual School Pages''' =
== '''Communicating on Wiki!!!''' ==
Wiki will tell you when anyone makes an edit or comment to any page if you 
 -log in, click on my preferences, put your whole name in for your signature if you want, check off all of the boxes at the bottom to turn on the email function
 -go to the pages you want to "watch" and click on on the Watch tab, you'll get an email if there is a change to these pages
 -watch your practice page and everyone elses practice pages for now so you know any of us make a comment or put up something new
 -'''Please''' make comments using the discussion tab on anything and everything right now!
 -if you feel the urge to make the comment on the actual page, that's ok for any pages under Variability of the Mid IR Sky seeing that these are our pages, but if you comment on the main coolwiki, use the discussion page.

==='''[[Here's some examples of how to edit a wiki page]]'''===
 

== [[Lincoln-Way North High School in Frankfort, Illinois]] ==
[[Image:Phoenix.jpg]][[Image:LWN.jpg]][[Image:Phoenix.jpg]] 
'''Teacher - Peggy Piper - Students - Joey R. - Rebecca R. - Justin C.''' 
Here are our light curves with standard deviations for the three test stars using Source Model B. From top to bottom in each graph, they are stars #1, #2, and #3. 

'''Mrs. P Question to you - which aperture background should we choose? Why?
 

Joey's Data for Aperture 3, Background 10 20 
[[File:Joey 3 10 20.jpg|600px|thumb|center|Joey aperture 3 background 10-20]]

Rebecca's Data for Aperture 5, Background 5 10
 
[[File:Rebecca5510.jpg|600px|thumb|center|Rebecca aperture 5 background 5-10]]

Joey's Data for Aperture 10, Background 12 20 
[[File:Joey 10 12 20.jpg|600px|thumb|center|Joey aperture 10 background 12-20]]

===[[LWN Data Files | CLICK HERE for our working data]]===
 

===[[LWN Student Practice Pages]]===
 

=== [[Mars pics for Mr. DeCoster]] ===

I moved these to their own page to take up less space --Peggy Piper 10:10, 29 July 2010 (PDT) 

== [[Niles West High School in Skokie, Illinois]] ==

Teacher - Rich DeCoster 
Student - Alex 
Student - Aneesh
 

[[File:SkokieFamily.jpg|600px|thumb|center]]

===[[Determining Fields - Rich images and links]]===
Here's Rich's work from when we first were determining which fields to use. I think it probably ties in well with Alex's very nice tutorial:)--Peggy Piper 10:06, 29 July 2010 (PDT) 

===[[Identifying Objects in ds9: a Pictorial Tutorial by Alex Antonow]]===
 

Here are two light curves by Alex 
[[image:Var Star with Avg.jpg|thumb|600px|center]] 
[[Media:APT_star_1_and_2.xls]] 

 

===[[Niles West Student Observing Pages]]===

 
===[[Niles West Student Practice Pages]]===
 

== [[North Middle School, Great Falls, Montana]] ==

click on title above to get page to edit

Teacher - Beth Thomas
Student - Drew B.
Student - Olivia R.
 

[[File:Montanans.jpg]]

=Summer Discussion Topics=

==How Does Spitzer Work==

So let's start looking into the details of how Spitzer works! I put a few subheadings below, we can add more as we go. Lets start with the mission. How 'bouts each of you come up with some facts about the history, the purpose, the reason Spizter was launched. There's plenty of info and links on this coolwiki.

Rules:

# come up with and list 5 facts (not here, on History/Mission page!)
# you can't repeat someone else's fact (if you do this soon, its easier - poor Joey's out of town til Sat!)
# once facts are up, come up with several questions about someone else's facts and post them below the fact (make sure you hit the signature button so we know who's talking)

This time we'll talk right on the topic page instead of the discussion page.Click on History/Mission to see how I started. Ha - I took the easy ones!

===[[History/Mission]]===

===[[Physical Aspects]]===

===[[IR Channels]]===
 

==[[Variable Stars]]==

http://aavso.org/vstar/

===[[Studying Variable Stars]]===

Here's the link to some variable star lessons Beth put together - very nice!
 

==[[Acronyms and Vocab and Our Proposal, Oh my!! ]]==
ya know...Lion's and Tiger's and Bear's, Oh my!!

==[[Our Glorious Leaders]]==

Most Definitely a couple of Cool Dudes

[[File:cooldudes.jpg]]

[[Media:DonSteveArt2008.pdf | Here is link to ‘‘DARK MATTER’’ IN ACCRETION DISKS by Steve Howell and Don Hoard that is of interest]]
 

=Other items=
This is Rich. I hope I am not causing confusion. It is 11:15 am CST on Friday Jan. 22, 2010. I am trying to see what this does, since I have "editing" status here. Is this something we use instead of email, or is it a place to create documents that we edit together?
Rich
ps-Should something like this be in the "discussion" tab rather than the "article" tab?

Hi Rich - no, you're not causing confusion, you're doing it exactly right! These pages under "current research activities" are really sort of "shared white boards". The other half of the wiki (under "research tools") are more articles, and in those cases, yes, questions should go into the discussion pages. I copied some headers in here, but please see some of the "current research activity" pages for the other current teams to see how they are using their pages. (e.g., [[CG4_Current_Research_Activities| cg4's page]]) Oh, and you can use this for whatever you want -- proposal preparation, conversation, sharing plots, brainstorming, etc. --[[User:Rebull|Rebull]] 13:12, 22 January 2010 (PST)

Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Current Research Activities

2011-01-15T15:08:55Z

Decoster: /* Click here forEducation Poster Abstract */

=[[Winter AAS Visit 2011]]=
[[File:VarStarsAAS2011ed.jpg|600px|thumb|center|VarStars with Education Poster AAS 1/11/11]]
[[File:VarStarsAAS2011sci.jpg|600px|thumb|center|VarStars with Education and Science Poster to be presented 1/12/11]]
===[[Luisa's AAS Scavenger Hunt]]===
Dr. Rebull put together a list of people, places, things that we should check out at the AAS. Click on your name and document your time with words and pictures! 

==[[Rebecca AAS]]==

==[[Joey AAS]]==

==[[Justin AAS]]==

==[[Alex AAS]]==

==[[Aneesh AAS]]==

==[[Olivia AAS]]==

==[[Mr DeCoster AAS]]==

==[[Mrs Thomas AAS ]]==

==[[Mrs Piper AAS]]==
more pics here!!!

 

==Click here for [http://e.ctt.bz/e.asp?e=FD7FA1FF-C16B-40A4-AA45-5BED95A7F640 Science Poster Abstract] ==

[[File:SciencePoster.pdf]]

==Click here for[http://e.ctt.bz/e.asp?e=5217F70A-5448-4E37-B417-ECBAC69097C5 Education Poster Abstract] ==

[[File:EducationPoster.jpg|600px|thumb|center]]

 
[[Poster working docs]]

 

=[[Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Proposal]]=

'''Here is the link to our Spring 2010 proposal http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/teacher_research/r4-variab/variabProposal.pdf'''

[[File:VariableFamily.jpg|600px|thumb|center]]
=[[Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Summer visit]]=

We will be arriving on Thursday Aug 5, departing Aug 9 in hopes of working the three full days of Aug 6, 7 and 8. '''[[Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Summer visit | CLICK HERE for details]]'''

=[[Caltech Summer Visit Discussion ]]=
Star field names, # of stars, # of images and teams are listed here.
 

[[File:Spitzer_JPL_visit.jpeg|600px|thumb|center|JPL Visit August 2010]] 
===[[Luisa's thought provoking Journal Prompts]]===
[[Click here for VarStar Responses to Louisa!]]

 

= [[Generating Light Curves - APT and Excel ]] =

You can find info to help you practice using APT to generate light curves on this page.

[[File:test stars comp.jpg]]

== Standard Deviation for Dummies ==

Our Astronomers said it would be important for us to understand standard deviation. We found the button on Excel that calculates it for us, but doesn't really explain what it is. Here's an explanation and example.

Standard deviation is a statistical measure of spread or variability. The standard deviation is tells you how closely the data are clustered around the average. We want to use the aperture and background subtraction settings that give us the smallest standard deviation for a star that is not varying. Our varying stars will of course have large standard deviations because they ARE varying.

Formula: [[image:stddev.jpg]]

Standard Deviation
standard deviation formula

where Σ = Sum of
X = Individual score
M = Mean (average) of all scores
N = Sample size (Number of scores)

'''Example: Find the Standard deviation of 3,2,1,1,and 3'''

Step 1: Calculate the mean (average) and deviation.
{| border="1"
|-
|'''X'''
|'''M'''
|'''(X-M)'''
|'''(X-M)2'''
|-
|3
|2
|1
|1
|-
|2
|2
|0
|0
|-
|1
|2
|(-1)
|1
|-
|-
|1
|2
|(-1)
|1
|-
|3
|2
|1
|1
|-
|}

Step 2:Find the sum of (X-M)2
1+0+1+1+1 = 4

Step 3:N = 5, the total number of values.Find N-1.
5-1 = 4

Step 4:Now find Standard Deviation using the formula.
√4/√4 = 1

= '''Individual School Pages''' =
== '''Communicating on Wiki!!!''' ==
Wiki will tell you when anyone makes an edit or comment to any page if you 
 -log in, click on my preferences, put your whole name in for your signature if you want, check off all of the boxes at the bottom to turn on the email function
 -go to the pages you want to "watch" and click on on the Watch tab, you'll get an email if there is a change to these pages
 -watch your practice page and everyone elses practice pages for now so you know any of us make a comment or put up something new
 -'''Please''' make comments using the discussion tab on anything and everything right now!
 -if you feel the urge to make the comment on the actual page, that's ok for any pages under Variability of the Mid IR Sky seeing that these are our pages, but if you comment on the main coolwiki, use the discussion page.

==='''[[Here's some examples of how to edit a wiki page]]'''===
 

== [[Lincoln-Way North High School in Frankfort, Illinois]] ==
[[Image:Phoenix.jpg]][[Image:LWN.jpg]][[Image:Phoenix.jpg]] 
'''Teacher - Peggy Piper - Students - Joey R. - Rebecca R. - Justin C.''' 
Here are our light curves with standard deviations for the three test stars using Source Model B. From top to bottom in each graph, they are stars #1, #2, and #3. 

'''Mrs. P Question to you - which aperture background should we choose? Why?
 

Joey's Data for Aperture 3, Background 10 20 
[[File:Joey 3 10 20.jpg|600px|thumb|center|Joey aperture 3 background 10-20]]

Rebecca's Data for Aperture 5, Background 5 10
 
[[File:Rebecca5510.jpg|600px|thumb|center|Rebecca aperture 5 background 5-10]]

Joey's Data for Aperture 10, Background 12 20 
[[File:Joey 10 12 20.jpg|600px|thumb|center|Joey aperture 10 background 12-20]]

===[[LWN Data Files | CLICK HERE for our working data]]===
 

===[[LWN Student Practice Pages]]===
 

=== [[Mars pics for Mr. DeCoster]] ===

I moved these to their own page to take up less space --Peggy Piper 10:10, 29 July 2010 (PDT) 

== [[Niles West High School in Skokie, Illinois]] ==

Teacher - Rich DeCoster 
Student - Alex 
Student - Aneesh
 

[[File:SkokieFamily.jpg|600px|thumb|center]]

===[[Determining Fields - Rich images and links]]===
Here's Rich's work from when we first were determining which fields to use. I think it probably ties in well with Alex's very nice tutorial:)--Peggy Piper 10:06, 29 July 2010 (PDT) 

===[[Identifying Objects in ds9: a Pictorial Tutorial by Alex Antonow]]===
 

Here are two light curves by Alex 
[[image:Var Star with Avg.jpg|thumb|600px|center]] 
[[Media:APT_star_1_and_2.xls]] 

 

===[[Niles West Student Observing Pages]]===

 
===[[Niles West Student Practice Pages]]===
 

== [[North Middle School, Great Falls, Montana]] ==

click on title above to get page to edit

Teacher - Beth Thomas
Student - Drew B.
Student - Olivia R.
 

[[File:Montanans.jpg]]

=Summer Discussion Topics=

==How Does Spitzer Work==

So let's start looking into the details of how Spitzer works! I put a few subheadings below, we can add more as we go. Lets start with the mission. How 'bouts each of you come up with some facts about the history, the purpose, the reason Spizter was launched. There's plenty of info and links on this coolwiki.

Rules:

# come up with and list 5 facts (not here, on History/Mission page!)
# you can't repeat someone else's fact (if you do this soon, its easier - poor Joey's out of town til Sat!)
# once facts are up, come up with several questions about someone else's facts and post them below the fact (make sure you hit the signature button so we know who's talking)

This time we'll talk right on the topic page instead of the discussion page.Click on History/Mission to see how I started. Ha - I took the easy ones!

===[[History/Mission]]===

===[[Physical Aspects]]===

===[[IR Channels]]===
 

==[[Variable Stars]]==

http://aavso.org/vstar/

===[[Studying Variable Stars]]===

Here's the link to some variable star lessons Beth put together - very nice!
 

==[[Acronyms and Vocab and Our Proposal, Oh my!! ]]==
ya know...Lion's and Tiger's and Bear's, Oh my!!

==[[Our Glorious Leaders]]==

Most Definitely a couple of Cool Dudes

[[File:cooldudes.jpg]]

[[Media:DonSteveArt2008.pdf | Here is link to ‘‘DARK MATTER’’ IN ACCRETION DISKS by Steve Howell and Don Hoard that is of interest]]
 

=Other items=
This is Rich. I hope I am not causing confusion. It is 11:15 am CST on Friday Jan. 22, 2010. I am trying to see what this does, since I have "editing" status here. Is this something we use instead of email, or is it a place to create documents that we edit together?
Rich
ps-Should something like this be in the "discussion" tab rather than the "article" tab?

Hi Rich - no, you're not causing confusion, you're doing it exactly right! These pages under "current research activities" are really sort of "shared white boards". The other half of the wiki (under "research tools") are more articles, and in those cases, yes, questions should go into the discussion pages. I copied some headers in here, but please see some of the "current research activity" pages for the other current teams to see how they are using their pages. (e.g., [[CG4_Current_Research_Activities| cg4's page]]) Oh, and you can use this for whatever you want -- proposal preparation, conversation, sharing plots, brainstorming, etc. --[[User:Rebull|Rebull]] 13:12, 22 January 2010 (PST)

File:Science VarStar Poster Paint.JPG

2011-01-15T15:04:36Z

Decoster: Copy of poster pdf done by PAINT. Get better copy as time evolves and finals are behind us.

Copy of poster pdf done by PAINT. Get better copy as time evolves and finals are behind us.

Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Current Research Activities

2011-01-15T14:54:40Z

Decoster: /* Click here for Science Poster Abstract */

=[[Winter AAS Visit 2011]]=
[[File:VarStarsAAS2011ed.jpg|600px|thumb|center|VarStars with Education Poster AAS 1/11/11]]
[[File:VarStarsAAS2011sci.jpg|600px|thumb|center|VarStars with Education and Science Poster to be presented 1/12/11]]
===[[Luisa's AAS Scavenger Hunt]]===
Dr. Rebull put together a list of people, places, things that we should check out at the AAS. Click on your name and document your time with words and pictures! 

==[[Rebecca AAS]]==

==[[Joey AAS]]==

==[[Justin AAS]]==

==[[Alex AAS]]==

==[[Aneesh AAS]]==

==[[Olivia AAS]]==

==[[Mr DeCoster AAS]]==

==[[Mrs Thomas AAS ]]==

==[[Mrs Piper AAS]]==
more pics here!!!

 

==Click here for [http://e.ctt.bz/e.asp?e=FD7FA1FF-C16B-40A4-AA45-5BED95A7F640 Science Poster Abstract] ==

[[File:SciencePoster.pdf]]

==Click here for[http://e.ctt.bz/e.asp?e=5217F70A-5448-4E37-B417-ECBAC69097C5 Education Poster Abstract] ==

[[File:EducationPoster.jpg|600px|thumb|center]]

 
[[Poster working docs]]

 

==Click here for[http://e.ctt.bz/e.asp?e=5217F70A-5448-4E37-B417-ECBAC69097C5 Education Poster Abstract] ==

[[File:EducationPoster.jpg|600px|thumb|center]]

 
[[Poster working docs]]

 

=[[Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Proposal]]=

'''Here is the link to our Spring 2010 proposal http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/teacher_research/r4-variab/variabProposal.pdf'''

[[File:VariableFamily.jpg|600px|thumb|center]]
=[[Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Summer visit]]=

We will be arriving on Thursday Aug 5, departing Aug 9 in hopes of working the three full days of Aug 6, 7 and 8. '''[[Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Summer visit | CLICK HERE for details]]'''

=[[Caltech Summer Visit Discussion ]]=
Star field names, # of stars, # of images and teams are listed here.
 

[[File:Spitzer_JPL_visit.jpeg|600px|thumb|center|JPL Visit August 2010]] 
===[[Luisa's thought provoking Journal Prompts]]===
[[Click here for VarStar Responses to Louisa!]]

 

= [[Generating Light Curves - APT and Excel ]] =

You can find info to help you practice using APT to generate light curves on this page.

[[File:test stars comp.jpg]]

== Standard Deviation for Dummies ==

Our Astronomers said it would be important for us to understand standard deviation. We found the button on Excel that calculates it for us, but doesn't really explain what it is. Here's an explanation and example.

Standard deviation is a statistical measure of spread or variability. The standard deviation is tells you how closely the data are clustered around the average. We want to use the aperture and background subtraction settings that give us the smallest standard deviation for a star that is not varying. Our varying stars will of course have large standard deviations because they ARE varying.

Formula: [[image:stddev.jpg]]

Standard Deviation
standard deviation formula

where Σ = Sum of
X = Individual score
M = Mean (average) of all scores
N = Sample size (Number of scores)

'''Example: Find the Standard deviation of 3,2,1,1,and 3'''

Step 1: Calculate the mean (average) and deviation.
{| border="1"
|-
|'''X'''
|'''M'''
|'''(X-M)'''
|'''(X-M)2'''
|-
|3
|2
|1
|1
|-
|2
|2
|0
|0
|-
|1
|2
|(-1)
|1
|-
|-
|1
|2
|(-1)
|1
|-
|3
|2
|1
|1
|-
|}

Step 2:Find the sum of (X-M)2
1+0+1+1+1 = 4

Step 3:N = 5, the total number of values.Find N-1.
5-1 = 4

Step 4:Now find Standard Deviation using the formula.
√4/√4 = 1

= '''Individual School Pages''' =
== '''Communicating on Wiki!!!''' ==
Wiki will tell you when anyone makes an edit or comment to any page if you 
 -log in, click on my preferences, put your whole name in for your signature if you want, check off all of the boxes at the bottom to turn on the email function
 -go to the pages you want to "watch" and click on on the Watch tab, you'll get an email if there is a change to these pages
 -watch your practice page and everyone elses practice pages for now so you know any of us make a comment or put up something new
 -'''Please''' make comments using the discussion tab on anything and everything right now!
 -if you feel the urge to make the comment on the actual page, that's ok for any pages under Variability of the Mid IR Sky seeing that these are our pages, but if you comment on the main coolwiki, use the discussion page.

==='''[[Here's some examples of how to edit a wiki page]]'''===
 

== [[Lincoln-Way North High School in Frankfort, Illinois]] ==
[[Image:Phoenix.jpg]][[Image:LWN.jpg]][[Image:Phoenix.jpg]] 
'''Teacher - Peggy Piper - Students - Joey R. - Rebecca R. - Justin C.''' 
Here are our light curves with standard deviations for the three test stars using Source Model B. From top to bottom in each graph, they are stars #1, #2, and #3. 

'''Mrs. P Question to you - which aperture background should we choose? Why?
 

Joey's Data for Aperture 3, Background 10 20 
[[File:Joey 3 10 20.jpg|600px|thumb|center|Joey aperture 3 background 10-20]]

Rebecca's Data for Aperture 5, Background 5 10
 
[[File:Rebecca5510.jpg|600px|thumb|center|Rebecca aperture 5 background 5-10]]

Joey's Data for Aperture 10, Background 12 20 
[[File:Joey 10 12 20.jpg|600px|thumb|center|Joey aperture 10 background 12-20]]

===[[LWN Data Files | CLICK HERE for our working data]]===
 

===[[LWN Student Practice Pages]]===
 

=== [[Mars pics for Mr. DeCoster]] ===

I moved these to their own page to take up less space --Peggy Piper 10:10, 29 July 2010 (PDT) 

== [[Niles West High School in Skokie, Illinois]] ==

Teacher - Rich DeCoster 
Student - Alex 
Student - Aneesh
 

[[File:SkokieFamily.jpg|600px|thumb|center]]

===[[Determining Fields - Rich images and links]]===
Here's Rich's work from when we first were determining which fields to use. I think it probably ties in well with Alex's very nice tutorial:)--Peggy Piper 10:06, 29 July 2010 (PDT) 

===[[Identifying Objects in ds9: a Pictorial Tutorial by Alex Antonow]]===
 

Here are two light curves by Alex 
[[image:Var Star with Avg.jpg|thumb|600px|center]] 
[[Media:APT_star_1_and_2.xls]] 

 

===[[Niles West Student Observing Pages]]===

 
===[[Niles West Student Practice Pages]]===
 

== [[North Middle School, Great Falls, Montana]] ==

click on title above to get page to edit

Teacher - Beth Thomas
Student - Drew B.
Student - Olivia R.
 

[[File:Montanans.jpg]]

=Summer Discussion Topics=

==How Does Spitzer Work==

So let's start looking into the details of how Spitzer works! I put a few subheadings below, we can add more as we go. Lets start with the mission. How 'bouts each of you come up with some facts about the history, the purpose, the reason Spizter was launched. There's plenty of info and links on this coolwiki.

Rules:

# come up with and list 5 facts (not here, on History/Mission page!)
# you can't repeat someone else's fact (if you do this soon, its easier - poor Joey's out of town til Sat!)
# once facts are up, come up with several questions about someone else's facts and post them below the fact (make sure you hit the signature button so we know who's talking)

This time we'll talk right on the topic page instead of the discussion page.Click on History/Mission to see how I started. Ha - I took the easy ones!

===[[History/Mission]]===

===[[Physical Aspects]]===

===[[IR Channels]]===
 

==[[Variable Stars]]==

http://aavso.org/vstar/

===[[Studying Variable Stars]]===

Here's the link to some variable star lessons Beth put together - very nice!
 

==[[Acronyms and Vocab and Our Proposal, Oh my!! ]]==
ya know...Lion's and Tiger's and Bear's, Oh my!!

==[[Our Glorious Leaders]]==

Most Definitely a couple of Cool Dudes

[[File:cooldudes.jpg]]

[[Media:DonSteveArt2008.pdf | Here is link to ‘‘DARK MATTER’’ IN ACCRETION DISKS by Steve Howell and Don Hoard that is of interest]]
 

=Other items=
This is Rich. I hope I am not causing confusion. It is 11:15 am CST on Friday Jan. 22, 2010. I am trying to see what this does, since I have "editing" status here. Is this something we use instead of email, or is it a place to create documents that we edit together?
Rich
ps-Should something like this be in the "discussion" tab rather than the "article" tab?

Hi Rich - no, you're not causing confusion, you're doing it exactly right! These pages under "current research activities" are really sort of "shared white boards". The other half of the wiki (under "research tools") are more articles, and in those cases, yes, questions should go into the discussion pages. I copied some headers in here, but please see some of the "current research activity" pages for the other current teams to see how they are using their pages. (e.g., [[CG4_Current_Research_Activities| cg4's page]]) Oh, and you can use this for whatever you want -- proposal preparation, conversation, sharing plots, brainstorming, etc. --[[User:Rebull|Rebull]] 13:12, 22 January 2010 (PST)

Talk:Winter AAS Visit 2011

2010-12-31T22:12:46Z

Decoster:

'''Bold text'''Wow, I like the sound of free food for the banquet night! :)

As for the sessions, the ones I think look good:

Monday - 3:40 (Dark Matter/Black Holes), 4:30 (Exoplanets)

Tuesday - 3:40 (Pulsars)

Wednesday - 8:30 A.M. (Black Holes), 3:40 (Stellar Astronomy)

As for the Exhibit Halls are we going to stop in in between the presentations? Because some of those seem really interesting. And for the Special/Oral Sessions, we may have to choose those as a group because there seem to be a lot of cool ones happening at the same time (if I'm reading the schedule right). --[[User:Romero|Joey Romero]] 23:08, 30 December 2010 (PST)

These 50 minute "Invited" talks are usually the best bet for learning something. They are I think [a] 8:30 - 9:20, [b] 11:40-12:30 and then [c] 3:40-4:30 [d] 4:40-5:30. The speaker is supposed to be addressing a broader audienece and has time for an introduction to the topic, etc. Many of the sessions that may sound good [or "cool"]-beware-are in fact a series of rapid-fire 15 minute oral presentations that are too short generally to be of any use except to people who are specialists. Then there is another type of session that is in between [an intro to a topic by one speaker followed by 2 or 3 20 to 30 minue talks-I haven't found these in the program yet.] and can be pretty interesting. I plan on attending the 8:30, 11:40 and 3:40 sessions on Monday in addition to the 4 pm special Neptune session on Sunday. Neptune is back to where it was when it was discovered, i.e., it has completed 1 orbit of the sun.
In between, there is generally a break sometime in the morning and afternoon for coffee and maybe light, very light, snacks that disappear rather quickly. The idea of the break is to wander through the exhibit hall anl sample the exhibits and the posters. The poster sessions are in the exhibit hall and scattered about in a sometimes random and sometimes rational manner. The break/snacks are in the exhibit hall as well. NOTE: YOU need your badge everywhere you go at the meeting. Guards are posted all around to enforce this.
We will want to pick up our badges soon after we check in on Sunday, before the glut of last-minute Charlies on Monday.
--[[User:Decoster|Richard DeCoster]] 14:11, 31 December 2010 (PST)

The above got all messed up when I tried to edit it a second time. Don't know how to fix it.
--[[User:Decoster|Richard DeCoster]] 14:12, 31 December 2010 (PST)

Talk:Winter AAS Visit 2011

2010-12-31T22:11:47Z

Decoster:

Talk:Winter AAS Visit 2011

2010-12-31T22:11:02Z

Decoster:

'''Bold text'''Wow, I like the sound of free food for the banquet night! :)

As for the sessions, the ones I think look good:

Monday - 3:40 (Dark Matter/Black Holes), 4:30 (Exoplanets)

Tuesday - 3:40 (Pulsars)

Wednesday - 8:30 A.M. (Black Holes), 3:40 (Stellar Astronomy)

As for the Exhibit Halls are we going to stop in in between the presentations? Because some of those seem really interesting. And for the Special/Oral Sessions, we may have to choose those as a group because there seem to be a lot of cool ones happening at the same time (if I'm reading the schedule right). --[[User:Romero|Joey Romero]] 23:08, 30 December 2010 (PST)

These 50 minute "Invited" talks are usually the best bet for learning something. They are I think [a] 8:30 - 9:20, [b] 11:40-12:30 and then [c] 3:40-4:30 [d] 4:40-5:30. The speaker is supposed to be addressing a broader audienece and has time for an introduction to the topic, etc. Many of the sessions that may sound good [or "cool"]-beware-are in fact a series of rapid-fire 15 minute oral presentations that are too short generally to be of any use except to people who are specialists. Then there is another type of session that is in between [an intro to a topic by one speaker followed by 2 or 3 20 to 30 minue talks-I haven't found these in the program yet.] and can be pretty interesting. I plan on attending the 8:30, 11:40 and 3:40 sessions on Monday in addition to the 4 pm special Neptune session on Sunday. Neptune is back to where it was when it was discovered, i.e., it has completed 1 orbit of the sun.
"In between"-there is generally a break sometime in the morning and afternoon for coffee and maybe light, very light, snacks that disappear rather quickly. The idea of the break is to wander through the exhibit hall anl sample the exhibits and the posters. The poster sessions are in the exhibit hall and scattered about in a sometimes random and sometimes rational manner. The break/snacks are in the exhibit hall as well. NOTE: YOU need your badge everywhere you go at the meeting. Guards are posted all around to enforce this.
We will want to pick up our badges soon after we check in on Sunday, before the glut of last-minute Charlies on Monday.
--[[User:Decoster|Richard DeCoster]] 14:11, 31 December 2010 (PST)

Talk:Winter AAS Visit 2011

2010-12-31T22:09:40Z

Decoster:

'''Bold text'''Wow, I like the sound of free food for the banquet night! :)

As for the sessions, the ones I think look good:

Monday - 3:40 (Dark Matter/Black Holes), 4:30 (Exoplanets)

Tuesday - 3:40 (Pulsars)

Wednesday - 8:30 A.M. (Black Holes), 3:40 (Stellar Astronomy)

As for the Exhibit Halls are we going to stop in in between the presentations? Because some of those seem really interesting. And for the Special/Oral Sessions, we may have to choose those as a group because there seem to be a lot of cool ones happening at the same time (if I'm reading the schedule right). --[[User:Romero|Joey Romero]] 23:08, 30 December 2010 (PST)

These 50 minute "Invited" talks are usually the best bet for learning something. They are I think [a] 8:30 - 9:20, [b] 11:40-12:30 and then [c] 3:40-4:30 [d] 4:40-5:30. The speaker is supposed to be addressing a broader audienece and has time for an introduction to the topic, etc. Many of the sessions that may sound good [or "cool"]-beware-are in fact a series of rapid-fire 15 minute oral presentations that are too short generally to be of any use except to people who are specialists. Then there is another type of session that is in between [an intro to a topic by one speaker followed by 2 or 3 20 to 30 minue talks-I haven't found these in the program yet.] and can be pretty interesting. I plan on attending the 8:30, 11:40 and 3:40 sessions on Monday in addition to the 4 pm special Neptune session on Sunday. Neptune is back to where it was when it was discovered, i.e., it has completed 1 orbit of the sun.
"In between"-there is generally a break sometime in the morning and afternoon for coffee and maybe light, very light, snacks that disappear rather quickly. The idea of the break is to wander through the exhibit hall anl sample the exhibits and the posters. The poster sessions are in the exhibit hall and scattered about in a sometimes random and sometimes rational manner. The break/snacks are in the exhibit hall as well. NOTE: YOU need your badge everywhere you go at the meeting. Guards are posted all around to enforce this.
We will want to pick up our badges soon after we check in on Sunday, before the glut of last-minute Charlies on Monday.
--[[User:Decoster|Richard DeCoster]] 14:01, 31 December 2010 (PST)

Talk:Winter AAS Visit 2011

2010-12-31T22:03:14Z

Decoster:

Talk:Winter AAS Visit 2011

2010-12-31T22:01:13Z

Decoster:

Wow, I like the sound of free food for the banquet night! :)

As for the sessions, the ones I think look good:

Monday - 3:40 (Dark Matter/Black Holes), 4:30 (Exoplanets)

Tuesday - 3:40 (Pulsars)

Wednesday - 8:30 A.M. (Black Holes), 3:40 (Stellar Astronomy)

As for the Exhibit Halls are we going to stop in in between the presentations? Because some of those seem really interesting. And for the Special/Oral Sessions, we may have to choose those as a group because there seem to be a lot of cool ones happening at the same time (if I'm reading the schedule right). --[[User:Romero|Joey Romero]] 23:08, 30 December 2010 (PST)

These 50 minute,invited talks are usually the best bet for learning something. They are I think [a] 8:30 - 9:20, [b] 11:40-12:30 and then [c] 3:40-4:30 [d] 4:40-5:30. The speaker is supposed to be addressing a broader audienece and has time for an introduction to the topic, etc. Many of the sessions that may sound good [or "cool"]-beware-are in fact a series of rapid-fire 15 minute oral presentations that are too short generally to be of any use except to people who are specialists. Then there is another type of session that is in between [an intro to a topic by one speaker followed by 2 or 3 20 to 30 minue talks-I haven't found these in the program yet.] and can be pretty interesting. I plan on attending the 8:30, 11:40 and 3:40 sessions on Monday in addition to the 4 pm special Neptune session on Sunday. Neptune is back to where it was when it was discovered, i.e., it has completed 1 orbit of the sun.
--[[User:Decoster|Richard DeCoster]] 14:01, 31 December 2010 (PST)

Talk:Winter AAS Visit 2011

2010-12-31T22:00:40Z

Decoster:

Acronyms and Vocab and Our Proposal, Oh my!!

2010-08-04T04:26:32Z

Decoster: /* Acronyms and Vocab */

=== Acronyms and Vocab ===
What do these mean? Here is the start of a list, fill in the answers right next to the words! Add more words/acronyms to the list! 

Aperture Radius 
Background Annulus 
Julian Day 
Janskys 
Luminosity 
Intensity 
RA and Dec 
Galactic coordinates 
APT - Aperture Photometry Tool 
DS9 
2MASS - Two Micron All Sky Survey; the name says a lot, it is a collection of images covering the entire sky at the 2 micron wavelength of infrared (which is shorter wavelengths than our Spitzer data, so closer to the visible spectrum). Some of its goals include cataloging all of the detected stars/galaxies and detecting brown dwarf stars. 
SIMBAD - Set of Identifications, Measurements, and Bibliography for Astronomical Data; this is a database of astronomical objects beyond our solar system. 
IRAC - Infrared Array Camera; takes images of the 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8 micron channels of infrared. The data we are studying came from this camera in these wavelengths while Spitzer was still cool. 
IPAC - Infrared Processing and Analysis Center; the name says exactly what it is, and it's located at CalTech! 
IRAF - Image Reduction and Analysis Facility; a program for analyzing IR images and data. It reduces images into pixel array form, which I assume means that the pixels can be rearranged somehow into a better format. 
reduction - '''I still don't quite get what the word reduction means, I believe it means that the data collected from photons hitting the individual pixels has been sent through some complicated mathematical formualas to get rid of bad data (noise). Perhaps one of you has a better explanation? --Peggy Piper 19:09, 1 August 2010 (PDT)''' 
 I think IRAF is pretty important. Check the WZ Sge paper-IRAF is referenced at the bottom of some page. I think it somehow takes the extremely convoluted counts obtained by IRAC? and then presents those observations as a pretty image of 256X256 pixels. Or perhaps that is what BCD means? I/we should read about this.
Here is a url http://www.physics.hmc.edu/Astronomy/Iphot.html
I don't know it there are better ones. My belief was that IRAF was what our mentors use rather than APT. I thought IRAF worked in batch mode whereas APT was for hands on work. But IRAF also seems to have a hands on option as well?--[[User:Decoster|Richard DeCoster]] 21:11, 3 August 2010 (PDT)
 BCD - Basic Calibrated Data - '''But what does that mean? How is it diff from reduced data? I'm not playing teacher, I really don't know:) --Peggy Piper 19:09, 1 August 2010 (PDT)''' - 
Nor do I. It is data that has somehow been "blessed" by the powers that be. I think we asked about this in our lengthy conference call back in March, but my notes don't help me out much. --[[User:Decoster|Richard DeCoster]] 21:11, 3 August 2010 (PDT)

 

=== Our Proposal ===
'''Here is the link to our Spring 2010 proposal http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/teacher_research/r4-variab/variabProposal.pdf'''
Read through our proposal. Below, list a few things that you totally understand as well as some questions you have.

Acronyms and Vocab and Our Proposal, Oh my!!

2010-08-04T04:11:32Z

Decoster: /* Acronyms and Vocab */

=== Acronyms and Vocab ===
What do these mean? Here is the start of a list, fill in the answers right next to the words! Add more words/acronyms to the list! 

Aperture Radius 
Background Annulus 
Julian Day 
Janskys 
Luminosity 
Intensity 
RA and Dec 
Galactic coordinates 
APT - Aperture Photometry Tool 
DS9 
2MASS - Two Micron All Sky Survey; the name says a lot, it is a collection of images covering the entire sky at the 2 micron wavelength of infrared (which is shorter wavelengths than our Spitzer data, so closer to the visible spectrum). Some of its goals include cataloging all of the detected stars/galaxies and detecting brown dwarf stars. 
SIMBAD - Set of Identifications, Measurements, and Bibliography for Astronomical Data; this is a database of astronomical objects beyond our solar system. 
IRAC - Infrared Array Camera; takes images of the 3.6, 4.5, 5.8, and 8 micron channels of infrared. The data we are studying came from this camera in these wavelengths while Spitzer was still cool. 
IPAC - Infrared Processing and Analysis Center; the name says exactly what it is, and it's located at CalTech! 
IRAF - Image Reduction and Analysis Facility; a program for analyzing IR images and data. It reduces images into pixel array form, which I assume means that the pixels can be rearranged somehow into a better format. 
reduction - '''I still don't quite get what the word reduction means, I believe it means that the data collected from photons hitting the individual pixels has been sent through some complicated mathematical formualas to get rid of bad data (noise). Perhaps one of you has a better explanation? --Peggy Piper 19:09, 1 August 2010 (PDT)''' 
 I think IRAF is pretty important. Check the WZ Sge paper-IRAF is referenced at the bottom of some page. I think it somehow takes the extremely convoluted counts obtained by IRAC? and then presents those observations as a pretty image of 256X256 pixels. But I/we should read about this.--[[User:Decoster|Richard DeCoster]] 21:11, 3 August 2010 (PDT)
 BCD - Basic Calibrated Data - '''But what does that mean? How is it diff from reduced data? I'm not playing teacher, I really don't know:) --Peggy Piper 19:09, 1 August 2010 (PDT)''' - 
Nor do I. It is data that has somehow been "blessed" by the powers that be. I think we asked about this in our lengthy conference call back in March, but my notes don't help me out much. --[[User:Decoster|Richard DeCoster]] 21:11, 3 August 2010 (PDT)

 

=== Our Proposal ===
'''Here is the link to our Spring 2010 proposal http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/teacher_research/r4-variab/variabProposal.pdf'''
Read through our proposal. Below, list a few things that you totally understand as well as some questions you have.

Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Summer visit

2010-08-01T21:01:56Z

Decoster: /* Travel dates/times and other logistics */

=Travel dates/times and other logistics=

'''Specific Travel Plans''' 

{| border="1"
|Peggy Piper Rich DeCoster
|arrive LAX 14:16 PDT on Thursday, 5-Aug on United 945 
depart LAX 13:05 PDT on Monday, 9-Aug on United 116 
Sharing Mini-Van
|-
|Beth Thomas
|TBD
|}

'''Students/Names (Sex) /Technology you are bringing''' 

{| border="1"
|-
|'''Teacher '''
|'''Student'''
|'''Student'''
|-
|Peggy Piper
|Joey Romero (M)
|Rebbecca Rosignolo (F)
|PC, possible Mac
|-
|Rich DeCoster
|Aneesh Sehgal (M)
|Alexander Antonow (M)
|PC
|-
|Beth Thomas
|Drew Brennan (M)
|Dallas Flemming (F)
|PC or possible Mac
|}

'''Hotel - nights of Aug 5 - Aug 8''' 

Quality Inn,
3321 E Colorado Blvd,
(626) 796-9291,
2 queen beds, non-smoking room,
complimentary breakfast, pool

=Potential Freetime Activities=

'''Point of Interest / Notes''' 

{| border="1"
|-
|'''Name '''
|'''Notes'''
|-
|Griffith Observatory
|Closed on Mondays. Great view of Los Angeles and Hollywood sign. Very relevant and very awesome (I've heard)! Early reservations required!
|-
|Huntington Gardens
|In Pasadena - not far from Caltech. Will be packed on Thursday (free day but no tickets left).
|-
|Venice Beach
|One of a kind beach and boardwalk. A good way to see Venice Beach and Santa Monica is by rental bikes.
|-
|Getty Museum
|Free admission, no reservations required. Beautiful view. Closed on Mondays. Free parking on Saturday after 5PM and museum open until 9PM.
|-
|Air and Space Museum
|At the California Science Center. Open 10AM to 5PM.
|-
|Universal City Walk
|Live Music at 8PM and 9:15PM on Saturday.
|-
|Mount Wilson Observatory
|North of Pasadena. Located at an altitude of 5715ft. Over 1.5 hours drive unfortunately due to closed roads.
|}

Variable Stars

2010-07-31T03:52:07Z

Decoster:

I already had this on my page, but here's the link to make it more easily accessible. Yes, I know it's Wikipedia, but the information is pretty legitimate. And it is a bit long, but even a scan through can get some good points. 
[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Variable_star Variable Stars on Wikipedia] 
The main points I got out of this are:
# Variable stars are classified as either intrinsic or extrinsic. Intrinsic is when the star itself is pulsating or having some sort of eruptions, causing the change in brightness. Extrinsic is when the star's brightness is blocked by another orbiting star.
# Specifically, I think the ones we've been studying are considered cepheids, or variable stars with shorter periods like days or months and their variation isn't very varying (say that five times fast! The site calls their luminosities "regular.")
# Helium is the main cause of cepheids' fluctuations. Ionization, to be exact; gotta love chemistry.
--[[User:Romero|Joey Romero]] 19:12, 24 July 2010 (PDT)

You Rock Joey! So if we are looking fore these rapidly varying stars in this study, why might it be useful to look at these in the infrared range?
Mr DeCoster is a variable star groupie, so I hope he chimes in here! Don't forget the link that someone posted on the previous page http://aavso.org/vstar/ that has lots more info. --Peggy Piper 20:08, 25 July 2010 (PDT)

AAVSO recently greatly modified [?improved] its web page. I am still trying to recoup.
*We took some pictures at Yerkes last night of one of the more famous variable stars SS Cygni. I'll try to post one such picture.
*Also, I started a page a bit ago of the Niles West sub-group's effort to observe longer period variables such as Mira-type and Cepheid-type, the latter that Joey alluded to. The Mid-IR group, i.e. us, is looking for variables with even shorter periods, on the order of which we can observe with our several hours long data sets. See "Mr. DeCoster's LPV Material" under one of our sub-headings. 
[[image:NITARP-Lyr Cyg Paint-5550-.JPG|600px|thumb|center|Chi Cyg area in Cygnus]] 
[[image:Ss_cyg_with_paint.JPG|1000px|thumb|center|SS Cyg with Yerkes 24" telescope, 7-29-2010. Mr. D needs HELP with resetting his PAINT program defaults!]] 

[[image:EF_Eri_pix_and_4_question_quiz..JPG|1000px|thumb|center|EF Eri and the two fixed magnitude stars we used for our three light curves with APT]] 
--[[User:Decoster|Richard DeCoster]] 12:56, 29 July 2010 (PDT)

So... SS Cyg varies over the course of weeks? I've got some images of Cygnus from the past two weeks up a yerkes and I think I have some from the grand canyone, that would be first two weeks in June. Should I actually see variation? --Peggy Piper 13:51, 29 July 2010 (PDT)

The paint thing - I think we found that you had to crop to exactly what you wanted included in your image to get rid of all that white. Rebecca is that right?--Peggy Piper 13:55, 29 July 2010 (PDT)

Concerning SS Cyg: SS Cyg varies erratically. It never gets naked eye visible-I have a couple of images with my Kodak when it got to its brightest. So I doubt that it will be in the pictures you mention. If SkyNet had northern hemisphere coverage it would be fun to watch SS Cyg. Vivian Hoette certainly has followed this variable extensively. It is a perfect project for using the Yerkes rooftop. But everything takes time and we already have our plates full.--[[User:Decoster|Richard DeCoster]] 20:48, 30 July 2010 (PDT)

Concerning the PAINT thing: Thanks for your response and please elaborate. It used to be that when I did copy/paste into paint I got a nice sized image. I still do at school. But about 4 months ago I opened a file I obtained elsewhere and my PAINT "default" got reset and I can't figure out how to go back to my useful settings.--[[User:Decoster|Richard DeCoster]] 20:52, 30 July 2010 (PDT)

Variable Stars

2010-07-31T03:48:58Z

Decoster:

Variable Stars

2010-07-29T20:35:27Z

Decoster:

Variable Stars

2010-07-29T20:31:13Z

Decoster:

File:EF Eri pix and 4 question quiz..JPG

2010-07-29T20:28:33Z

Decoster: A PAINT composit of one of our EF Eri images with a portion of its FITS HEADER to the left of the image.

A PAINT composit of one of our EF Eri images with a portion of its FITS HEADER to the left of the image.

Variable Stars

2010-07-29T20:15:32Z

Decoster:

Variable Stars

2010-07-29T20:14:48Z

Decoster:

Variable Stars

2010-07-29T20:14:01Z

Decoster:

File:Ss cyg with paint.JPG

2010-07-29T20:10:46Z

Decoster: Var star SS Cyg post-outburst with Yerkes 24" telescope/Apogee camera 7-29-2010

Var star SS Cyg post-outburst with Yerkes 24" telescope/Apogee camera 7-29-2010

Variable Stars

2010-07-29T20:00:28Z

Decoster:

Variable Stars

2010-07-29T19:58:25Z

Decoster:

Variable Stars

2010-07-29T19:57:57Z

Decoster:

Variable Stars

2010-07-29T19:56:31Z

Decoster:

Acronyms and Vocab and Our Proposal, Oh my!!

2010-07-29T19:49:38Z

Decoster: /* Acronyms and Vocab */

Acronyms and Vocab and Our Proposal, Oh my!!

2010-07-29T19:48:59Z

Decoster: /* Acronyms and Vocab */

=== Acronyms and Vocab ===
What do these mean? Here is the start of a list, fill in the answers right next to the words! Add more words/acronyms to the list! 

Aperture Radius 
Background Annulus 
Julian Day 
Janskys 
Luminosity 
APT 
DS9 
2MASS 
SIMBAD 
IRAC 
IPAC 
IRAF 

 

=== Our Proposal ===
'''Here is the link to our Spring 2010 proposal http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/teacher_research/r4-variab/variabProposal.pdf'''
Read through our proposal. Below, list a few things that you totally understand as well as some questions you have.

Talk:Acronyms and Vocab and Our Proposal, Oh my!!

2010-07-29T19:48:23Z

Decoster: Created page with 'Good. Mrs. P has been busy, busy. Thank you! I added IRAF just now. The Niles West contigent meets again this evening. We will work on these as well. '

Good. Mrs. P has been busy, busy. Thank you! I added IRAF just now. The Niles West contigent meets again this evening. We will work on these as well.

Talk:Determining Fields - Rich images and links

2010-07-29T17:57:05Z

Decoster: Created page with ' Peggy-Thanks for finding this material. I need to edit it a bit as I have learned a bit about Wiki since last winter. Actually I learned quite a lot, but my net gain is be…'

Peggy-Thanks for finding this material. I need to edit it a bit as I have learned a bit about Wiki since last winter. Actually I learned quite a lot, but my net gain is best described as "a bit" as a lot of what I think I learned has gone elsewhere than in my active brain.--[[User:Decoster|Richard DeCoster]] 10:57, 29 July 2010 (PDT)

Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Current Research Activities

2010-07-27T18:36:02Z

Decoster: /* Niles West High School in Skokie, Illinois */

=[[Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Proposal]]=

'''Here is the link to our Spring 2010 proposal http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/teacher_research/r4-variab/variabProposal.pdf'''

=[[Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Summer visit]]=

We will be arriving on Thursday Aug 5, departing Aug 9 in hopes of working the three full days of Aug 6, 7 and 8. '''[[Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Summer visit | CLICK HERE for details]]'''

= [[Generating Light Curves - APT and Excel ]] =

You can find info to help you practice using APT to generate light curves on this page.

[[File:test stars comp.jpg]]

== Standard Deviation for Dummies ==

Our Astronomers said it would be important for us to understand standard deviation. We found the button on Excel that calculates it for us, but doesn't really explain what it is. Here's an explanation and example.

Standard deviation is a statistical measure of spread or variability. The standard deviation is tells you how closely the data are clustered around the average. We want to use the aperture and background subtraction settings that give us the smallest standard deviation for a star that is not varying. Our varying stars will of course have large standard deviations because they ARE varying.

Formula: [[image:stddev.jpg]]

Standard Deviation
standard deviation formula

where Σ = Sum of
X = Individual score
M = Mean (average) of all scores
N = Sample size (Number of scores)

'''Example: Find the Standard deviation of 3,2,1,1,and 3'''

Step 1: Calculate the mean (average) and deviation.
{| border="1"
|-
|'''X'''
|'''M'''
|'''(X-M)'''
|'''(X-M)2'''
|-
|3
|2
|1
|1
|-
|2
|2
|0
|0
|-
|1
|2
|(-1)
|1
|-
|-
|1
|2
|(-1)
|1
|-
|3
|2
|1
|1
|-
|}

Step 2:Find the sum of (X-M)2
1+0+1+1+1 = 4

Step 3:N = 5, the total number of values.Find N-1.
5-1 = 4

Step 4:Now find Standard Deviation using the formula.
√4/√4 = 1

= '''Individual School Pages''' =
== '''Communicating on Wiki!!!''' ==
Wiki will tell you when anyone makes an edit or comment to any page if you 
 -log in, click on my preferences, put your whole name in for your signature if you want, check off all of the boxes at the bottom to turn on the email function
 -go to the pages you want to "watch" and click on on the Watch tab, you'll get an email if there is a change to these pages
 -watch your practice page and everyone elses practice pages for now so you know any of us make a comment or put up something new
 -'''Please''' make comments using the discussion tab on anything and everything right now!
 -if you feel the urge to make the comment on the actual page, that's ok for any pages under Variability of the Mid IR Sky seeing that these are our pages, but if you comment on the main coolwiki, use the discussion page.

== [[Lincoln-Way North High School in Frankfort, Illinois]] ==
[[Image:Phoenix.jpg]][[Image:LWN.jpg]][[Image:Phoenix.jpg]] 
'''Teacher - Peggy Piper - Students - Joey R. - Rebecca R. - Justin C.''' 
Here are our light curves with standard deviations for the three test stars using Source Model B. From top to bottom in each graph, they are stars #1, #2, and #3. 

'''Mrs. P Question to you - which aperture background should we choose? Why?
 

Joey's Data for Aperture 3, Background 10 20 
[[File:Joey 3 10 20.jpg|600px|thumb|center|Joey aperture 3 background 10-20]]

Rebecca's Data for Aperture 5, Background 5 10
 
[[File:Rebecca5510.jpg|600px|thumb|center|Rebecca aperture 5 background 5-10]]

Joey's Data for Aperture 10, Background 12 20 
[[File:Joey 10 12 20.jpg|600px|thumb|center|Joey aperture 10 background 12-20]]

===[[LWN Data Files | CLICK HERE for our working data]]===
 
===[[LWN Student Practice Pages]]===
 

=== A Present for Mr. DeCoster from Mrs. Piper ===

I broke my mini tripod, so these are not so carefully balanced on all sorts of odds and ends!
 

Well, we can delete this commnet later. These are really great and inspiring, Mrs. Piper. But I cannot recall how to make proper comments/discussion so this will do for now. I was able to download these and will proceed to work on final ppt of Mars motion across our skies!
 by Mr DeCoster

Yeah, officially your supposed to comment on the discussion page, but I think that only works when things are broken up into pages better - like if I had these on a page of their own, then your comments would make sense on the discussion page. But the way everthing is on one page here, it would be hard to match the comments with the pics. Let me know if these work or you need the orginals - can't wait to see the final ppt! --Peggy Piper 12:32, 7 July 2010 (PDT)

[[File:MarsLowell061310.jpg|500px|thumb|center|Mars in Leo from Lowell Observatory June 13, 2010]]

[[File:MarsGC061310.jpg|500px|thumb|center|Mars (bottom middle) in Leo from Grand Canyon June 14, 2010]]

[[File:MarsCoSprings061110.jpg|500px|thumb|center|Mars (top left) in Leo from Grand Canyon June 11, 2010]]

== [[Niles West High School in Skokie, Illinois]] ==

Teacher - Rich DeCoster 
Student - Alex 
Student - Aneesh
 

===[[Identifying Objects in ds9: a Pictorial Tutorial by Alex Antonow]]===
 

Here are two light curves by Alex 
[[image:Var Star with Avg.jpg|thumb|600px|center]] 
[[Media:APT_star_1_and_2.xls]] 

 

===[[Niles West Student Observing Pages]]===

 
===[[Niles West Student Practice Pages]]===
 

== [[North Middle School, Great Falls, Montana]] ==

click on title above to get page to edit

Teacher - Beth Thomas
Student - Drew B.
Student - Dallas F.
 

=Summer Discussion Topics=

==How Does Spitzer Work==

So let's start looking into the details of how Spitzer works! I put a few subheadings below, we can add more as we go. Lets start with the mission. How 'bouts each of you come up with some facts about the history, the purpose, the reason Spizter was launched. There's plenty of info and links on this coolwiki.

Rules:

# come up with and list 5 facts (not here, on History/Mission page!)
# you can't repeat someone else's fact (if you do this soon, its easier - poor Joey's out of town til Sat!)
# once facts are up, come up with several questions about someone else's facts and post them below the fact (make sure you hit the signature button so we know who's talking)

This time we'll talk right on the topic page instead of the discussion page.Click on History/Mission to see how I started. Ha - I took the easy ones!

===[[History/Mission]]===

===[[Physical Aspects]]===

===[[IR Channels]]===
 

==[[Variable Stars]]==

http://aavso.org/vstar/
 

==[[Our Glorious Leaders]]==

Most Definitely a couple of Cool Dudes

[[File:cooldudes.jpg]]

[[Media:DonSteveArt2008.pdf | Here is link to ‘‘DARK MATTER’’ IN ACCRETION DISKS by Steve Howell and Don Hoard that is of interest]]
 

=Other items=
This is Rich. I hope I am not causing confusion. It is 11:15 am CST on Friday Jan. 22, 2010. I am trying to see what this does, since I have "editing" status here. Is this something we use instead of email, or is it a place to create documents that we edit together?
Rich
ps-Should something like this be in the "discussion" tab rather than the "article" tab?

Hi Rich - no, you're not causing confusion, you're doing it exactly right! These pages under "current research activities" are really sort of "shared white boards". The other half of the wiki (under "research tools") are more articles, and in those cases, yes, questions should go into the discussion pages. I copied some headers in here, but please see some of the "current research activity" pages for the other current teams to see how they are using their pages. (e.g., [[CG4_Current_Research_Activities| cg4's page]]) Oh, and you can use this for whatever you want -- proposal preparation, conversation, sharing plots, brainstorming, etc. --[[User:Rebull|Rebull]] 13:12, 22 January 2010 (PST)

Talk:Identifying Objects in ds9: a Pictorial Tutorial by Alex Antonow

2010-07-27T18:29:28Z

Decoster:

NIce job Alex. Now I will see what happens with our "Discussion" thread.
However, how do I download the *.zip file? I have failed so far.--[[User:Decoster|Richard DeCoster]] 11:25, 27 July 2010 (PDT)

Talk:Identifying Objects in ds9: a Pictorial Tutorial by Alex Antonow

2010-07-27T18:25:35Z

Decoster: Created page with 'NIce job Alex. Now I will see what happens with our "Discussion" thread.--~~~~'

NIce job Alex. Now I will see what happens with our "Discussion" thread.--[[User:Decoster|Richard DeCoster]] 11:25, 27 July 2010 (PDT)

Talk:History/Mission

2010-07-14T02:52:07Z

Decoster:

Well done Joey-your facts involve a lot of good physics! I will try to get one of my students to join the fun here.--[[User:Decoster|Richard DeCoster]] 15:38, 21 June 2010 (PDT) 
Thank you! Sorry for the extreme delay in response. :)--[[User:Romero|Joey Romero]] 14:15, 7 July 2010 (PDT)
 

I would respond more frequently, but I don't really seem to understand how to comment on a lot of stuff. My comments end up in who knows where.--[[User:Decoster|Richard DeCoster]] 19:52, 13 July 2010 (PDT)

File:TrES images from 2MASS K and IPAC I1 crop.JPG

2010-07-14T02:42:18Z

Decoster: Using DS9 to compare images taken with 2MASS K band and SST-IPAC I1 channel for a TrES-4 iamge ~ 5' X 5'

Using DS9 to compare images taken with 2MASS K band and SST-IPAC I1 channel for a TrES-4 iamge ~ 5' X 5'

Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Current Research Activities

2010-07-07T19:14:35Z

Decoster: /* A Present for Mr. DeCoster from Mrs. Piper */

=[[Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Proposal]]=

'''Here is the link to our Spring 2010 proposal http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/teacher_research/r4-variab/variabProposal.pdf'''

=[[Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Summer visit]]=

We will be arriving on Thursday Aug 5, departing Aug 9 in hopes of working the three full days of Aug 6, 7 and 8. '''[[Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Summer visit | CLICK HERE for details]]'''

= [[Generating Light Curves - APT and Excel ]] =

You can find info to help you practice using APT to generate light curves on this page.

[[File:test stars comp.jpg]]

== Standard Deviation for Dummies ==

Our Astronomers said it would be important for us to understand standard deviation. We found the button on Excel that calculates it for us, but doesn't really explain what it is. Here's an explanation and example.

Standard deviation is a statistical measure of spread or variability. The standard deviation is tells you how closely the data are clustered around the average. We want to use the aperture and background subtraction settings that give us the smallest standard deviation for a star that is not varying. Our varying stars will of course have large standard deviations because they ARE varying.

Formula: [[image:stddev.jpg]]

Standard Deviation
standard deviation formula

where Σ = Sum of
X = Individual score
M = Mean (average) of all scores
N = Sample size (Number of scores)

'''Example: Find the Standard deviation of 3,2,1,1,and 3'''

Step 1: Calculate the mean (average) and deviation.
{| border="1"
|-
|'''X'''
|'''M'''
|'''(X-M)'''
|'''(X-M)2'''
|-
|3
|2
|1
|1
|-
|2
|2
|0
|0
|-
|1
|2
|(-1)
|1
|-
|-
|1
|2
|(-1)
|1
|-
|3
|2
|1
|1
|-
|}

Step 2:Find the sum of (X-M)2
1+0+1+1+1 = 4

Step 3:N = 5, the total number of values.Find N-1.
5-1 = 4

Step 4:Now find Standard Deviation using the formula.
√4/√4 = 1

= '''Individual School Pages''' =
== '''Communicating on Wiki!!!''' ==
Wiki will tell you when anyone makes an edit or comment to any page if you 
 -log in, click on my preferences, put your whole name in for your signature if you want, check off all of the boxes at the bottom to turn on the email function
 -go to the pages you want to "watch" and click on on the Watch tab, you'll get an email if there is a change to these pages
 -watch your practice page and everyone elses practice pages for now so you know any of us make a comment or put up something new
 -'''Please''' make comments using the discussion tab on anything and everything right now!
 -if you feel the urge to make the comment on the actual page, that's ok for any pages under Variability of the Mid IR Sky seeing that these are our pages, but if you comment on the main coolwiki, use the discussion page.

== [[Lincoln-Way North High School in Frankfort, Illinois]] ==
[[Image:Phoenix.jpg]][[Image:LWN.jpg]][[Image:Phoenix.jpg]] 
'''Teacher - Peggy Piper - Students - Joey R. - Rebecca R. - Justin C.''' 
Here are our light curves with standard deviations for the three test stars using Source Model B. From top to bottom in each graph, they are stars #1, #2, and #3. 

'''Mrs. P Question to you - which aperture background should we choose? Why?
 

Joey's Data for Aperture 3, Background 10 20 
[[File:Joey 3 10 20.jpg|600px|thumb|center|Joey aperture 3 background 10-20]]

Rebecca's Data for Aperture 5, Background 5 10
 
[[File:Rebecca5510.jpg|600px|thumb|center|Rebecca aperture 5 background 5-10]]

Joey's Data for Aperture 10, Background 12 20 
[[File:Joey 10 12 20.jpg|600px|thumb|center|Joey aperture 10 background 12-20]]

===[[LWN Data Files | CLICK HERE for our working data]]===
 
===[[LWN Student Practice Pages]]===
 

=== A Present for Mr. DeCoster from Mrs. Piper ===

I broke my mini tripod, so these are not so carefully balanced on all sorts of odds and ends!
 

Well, we can delete this commnet later. These are really great and inspiring, Mrs. Piper. But I cannot recall how to make proper comments/discussion so this will do for now. I was able to download these and will proceed to work on final ppt of Mars motion across our skies!
 by Mr DeCoster

[[File:MarsLowell061310.jpg|500px|thumb|center|Mars in Leo from Lowell Observatory June 13, 2010]]

[[File:MarsGC061310.jpg|500px|thumb|center|Mars (bottom middle) in Leo from Grand Canyon June 14, 2010]]

[[File:MarsCoSprings061110.jpg|500px|thumb|center|Mars (top left) in Leo from Grand Canyon June 11, 2010]]

== [[Niles West High School in Skokie, Illinois]] ==

Teacher - Rich DeCoster 
Student - Alexander 
Student - Aneesh
 

Here are two light curves by Alex 
[[image:Var Star with Avg.jpg|thumb|600px|center]] 
[[Media:APT_star_1_and_2.xls]] 

 

===[[Niles West Student Observing Pages]]===

 
===[[Niles West Student Practice Pages]]===
 

== [[North Middle School, Great Falls, Montana]] ==

click on title above to get page to edit

Teacher - Beth Thomas
Student - Drew B.
Student - Dallas F.
 

=Summer Discussion Topics=

==How Does Spitzer Work==

So let's start looking into the details of how Spitzer works! I put a few subheadings below, we can add more as we go. Lets start with the mission. How 'bouts each of you come up with some facts about the history, the purpose, the reason Spizter was launched. There's plenty of info and links on this coolwiki.

Rules:

# come up with and list 5 facts (not here, on History/Mission page!)
# you can't repeat someone else's fact (if you do this soon, its easier - poor Joey's out of town til Sat!)
# once facts are up, come up with several questions about someone else's facts and post them below the fact (make sure you hit the signature button so we know who's talking)

This time we'll talk right on the topic page instead of the discussion page.Click on History/Mission to see how I started. Ha - I took the easy ones!

===[[History/Mission]]===

===[[Physical Aspects]]===

===[[IR Channels]]===
 

==[[Variable Stars]]==

http://aavso.org/vstar/
 
==[[Our Glorious Leaders]]==

Most Definitely a couple of Cool Dudes

[[File:cooldudes.jpg]]

[[Media:DonSteveArt2008.pdf | Here is link to ‘‘DARK MATTER’’ IN ACCRETION DISKS by Steve Howell and Don Hoard that is of interest]]
 

=Other items=
This is Rich. I hope I am not causing confusion. It is 11:15 am CST on Friday Jan. 22, 2010. I am trying to see what this does, since I have "editing" status here. Is this something we use instead of email, or is it a place to create documents that we edit together?
Rich
ps-Should something like this be in the "discussion" tab rather than the "article" tab?

Hi Rich - no, you're not causing confusion, you're doing it exactly right! These pages under "current research activities" are really sort of "shared white boards". The other half of the wiki (under "research tools") are more articles, and in those cases, yes, questions should go into the discussion pages. I copied some headers in here, but please see some of the "current research activity" pages for the other current teams to see how they are using their pages. (e.g., [[CG4_Current_Research_Activities| cg4's page]]) Oh, and you can use this for whatever you want -- proposal preparation, conversation, sharing plots, brainstorming, etc. --[[User:Rebull|Rebull]] 13:12, 22 January 2010 (PST)

Talk:History/Mission

2010-06-21T22:38:45Z

Decoster: Created page with 'Well done Joey-your facts involve a lot of good physics! I will try to get one of my students to join the fun here.--~~~~'

Well done Joey-your facts involve a lot of good physics! I will try to get one of my students to join the fun here.--[[User:Decoster|Richard DeCoster]] 15:38, 21 June 2010 (PDT)

Talk:Joey Romero

2010-06-21T19:06:39Z

Decoster:

Nice job Joey, have you figured out how to put words next to images or was that just a surprise? I haven't figured it out yet, like I don't know how to put an image off to the right of a column of words, but if you look in the discussion on Rebecca's page I put a pretty heart in the middle of a sentence! Here, I'll give you a [[Image:Star.jpg]]!! Make sure you sign your comments --[[User:Piper|Piper]] 21:19, 30 May 2010 (PDT) 
Hi Mrs. P! Uhh I think the words to the side was just a fluke. Sorry! But I've added more to my page, and there's still that huge white space under my first graph. We both tried, and I can't figure out why that one didn't work and the second one did! Oh well, I hope you have fun with your Grand Canyon excursions! P.S. I like the star better than the heart anyway! P.S.S. What was that website we went to in astronomy where they gave us a picture with a lot of stars and galaxies and stuff and if you clicked on one it told you what it was? That would be a cool link to put on my page because that was really awesome.
--[[User:Romero|Romero]] 14:53, 31 May 2010 (PDT)

Very nice, I always say embrace your nerdiness! I think the white space has something to do with how we save and crop things in paint. maybe we should be just plain old saving the graph as a jpg or whatever w/o using paint, I bet there's a way? Love the Galaxy Zoo link, the other one I think you are thinking of is SDSS. Go to SDSS.org and try to get to navigation tool. instructions are somewhere on my moodle if you can't figure it out by playing around. If that's not the site you're thinking of, look around on the moodle and you might find it. You can get to my moodle thru teacher websites at LWN.--[[User:Piper|Piper]] 16:47, 31 May 2010 (PDT) 
Yep! SDSS was what I was thinking of. Are there any other things I gotta do?--[[User:Romero|Romero]] 09:46, 1 June 2010 (PDT)

Hello Joey, This is Mr. DeCoster, one of the other teachers. I work with Ms. Piper on NITARP and am amazed at how she picks up this Wiki stuff. I also work with her at YERKES and the ARCS program. I am practicing leaving a comment. I also tried to start my "student" page at Niles West part of Wiki that you are certainly welcome to comment on.

LOVE the additional images, are you really going to have a ponytail? Looks good to me. Other than commenting on any new comments you get, or commenting on other pages as they evolve, you are good. What do you think we should discuss, work on next week? --Peggy Piper 11:12, 1 June 2010 (PDT)

Nice pic! Just went to East's graduation, now packing for G.C. leaving early a.m.--Peggy Piper 18:41, 1 June 2010 (PDT)

Thanks Mrs. P! I hope you enjoy the Grand Canyon! And as for the previous message, I think what we need to get more in depth with the Spitzer itself. And as I'm typing this, I just realized I haven't looked at the DVD you gave us (it's sitting right next to me). Lol so maybe that'll help a little. Other than that, I don't remember what was on that list of things to do before Cali. --[[User:Romero|Joey Romero]] 20:14, 1 June 2010 (PDT)

Okay everyone, I'm gonna be gone till Saturday; I'm going to Vet Camp at Purdue! And there's no computers for use, so I can't check anything (I'm not even supposed to bring my cell phone! Yeah right!). Hope everyone's summers are going well! Cya on Saturday! :) --[[User:Romero|Joey Romero]] 09:22, 13 June 2010 (PDT)

You don't seem old enough to be a Vet, which war were you in? I'm just back, and I was going to suggest we start talking about what is Spitzer, maybe we'll start that and put together tips on using wiki. Have fun at camp!! --Peggy Piper 09:29, 13 June 2010 (PDT)

I'm back! :) Camp was super fun. Now let's start up some astronomy! --[[User:Romero|Joey Romero]] 18:31, 19 June 2010 (PDT)

Hi Joey, This is Mr. DeCoster at Niles West. I'm trying to just do some of the stuff we're to do with the Wiki, so this is my attempt to post a comment. Nice that you are doing so well! I guess this is supposed to be at the bottom-I'll see if I can move it there.
--[[User:Decoster|Decoster]] 20:28, 19 June 2010 (PDT)

Welcome back Joey! I have some squirrel questions for you, but they'll have to wait. See if you can rally up Rebecca and Justin to get back to this whole astronomy thing!

Welcome to you as well Mr. Decoster! --Peggy Piper 08:19, 20 June 2010 (PDT)

HEYYY!!! IM HEREE!!! (: --[[User:Rosignolo|Rebecca Ann Rosignolo (:]] 18:56, 20 June 2010 (PDT)

Hello Joey, This is Mr. DeCoster, one of the other teachers. I work with Ms. Piper on NITARP and am amazed at how she picks up this Wiki stuff. I also work with her at YERKES and the ARCS program. I am practicing leaving a comment. I also tried to start my "student" page at Niles West part of Wiki that you are certainly welcome to comment on.
I'm just copy/pasting this message to you guys to see if it works. I really liked your last image-that was one of the beasts from Science Olympiad a few years back. What is it? It's in Monceros[sp?]? And per the above Heyyy from Rebecca-I am trying to comment on your page as well. I am not so good at this.
--[[User:Decoster|Richard DeCoster]] 12:06, 21 June 2010 (PDT)

Talk:Rebecca Rosignolo

2010-06-21T19:00:31Z

Decoster:

whats up!?

== CALTECH!!!! ==

I am super excited to go to California!

Very nice Rebecca, you are also awesome and I [[Image:Heart.jpg]] you too, but how 'bout a nice image to pretty things up.
guess how I add my signature and date right here? --[[User:Piper|Piper]] 21:08, 30 May 2010 (PDT)

Woo-hoo!! You moved it all and changed the main practice page back, good job!--Peggy Piper 22:23, 31 May 2010 (PDT)

yeah. what else do i have to do!? --[[User:Rosignolo|Rebecca Ann Rosignolo (:]] 22:32, 31 May 2010 (PDT)

Hey guys. Rebecca, I like your dog! :D Lol I tried to upload a picture of me, and it turned out GIGANTIC. Like, just the top of my head took up the full screen. Hahah so I took it down. So yea, I thought I'd comment since Mrs. Piper said '''PLEASE COMMENT''' on other people's pages. :)--[[User:Romero|Joey Romero]] 10:20, 1 June 2010 (PDT)

A giant head sounds scarey. You should be able to resize your images before you upload them using microsoft picture manager - edit pictures - resize. to replace your current giant pics, click on image, choose to reload image and upload your smaller one, wiki will keep both versions but desplay the most recent. Nice link to LWN music Rebecca! was that there before? --Peggy Piper 10:51, 1 June 2010 (PDT)

hahahaha! ella bean read that!! isnt she ahdorable?! joey, i could help you figure out the picture thing. when you upload a picture there should be a box underneath that says dimensions, and you can change it. or you can send me yer picture and ill upload it for you! i read your page, wayy better than mine. darn it! Mrs. Piper, you making a page??!?? --[[User:Rosignolo|Rebecca Ann Rosignolo (:]] 12:03, 1 June 2010 (PDT)

I like the idea of Mrs. Piper's own page! :) and Mrs. P, I like the picture you added with all of us! This Wiki is coming along nicely! --[[User:Romero|Joey Romero]] 18:12, 1 June 2010 (PDT)

hey this article is really cool, NASA thinks their could be the possibility of a life form on one of Saturn's moons, Titan. [http://www.aolnews.com/science/article/csould-new-life-form-lurk-on-titan-saturns-biggest-moon/19506592?icid=main|aim|dl1|link3|http%3A%2F%2Fwww.aolnews.com%2Fscience%2Farticle%2Fcsould-new-life-form-lurk-on-titan-saturns-biggest-moon%2F19506592] you all should check it out. i hope i did the link right. :/--[[User:Rosignolo|Rebecca Ann Rosignolo (:]] 18:16, 7 June 2010 (PDT)

Weird! I didn't know there could be such a thing as hydrogen-based life forms! Pretty cool article! :) --[[User:Romero|Joey Romero]] 14:22, 8 June 2010 (PDT)

Interesting Article! I always feel like we are rather ego centric thinking that all life forms be carbon based and need water/oxygen to exist:0) Thinking as a teacher/scientist, who exactly wrote that article, there are a couple NASA quotes, but is there more? I would search some key words and NASA to see if there is anything out there straight from the horses mouth! On the way back, somewhere in NM --Peggy Piper 20:42, 8 June 2010 (PDT)

Oh my gosh, im soo sorry I havent kept up very well on this site...its been really hectic right now, and im super busy. I got a REAL JOB!!!! I work at Hienie's McCarthy's, its a chicken joint on 143rd in Orland Park! hahaha! I love working there, things have been great! This whole week I wont be around just a heads up, I am babysitting every single day, Mon-Sat, from 7am-5pm. hahahaha. I have been super busy between work, babysitting, band, and my 'social life'. So how is everyones summer going so far??? Mine...has been short, and busy. Not that much fun, but im trying. I dont think I will be able to do that weekend at Yerkes, cause I have no way to get there, and I have no idea where to stay or how much it costs??!? Can you give me a bit more information Mrs. P!?!? hahaha. I hope you had a wonderful time on your vacation! Talk to you all very soon! I will try to be around more often!!!!! TEXTT MEEEE!!! :D --[[User:Rosignolo|Rebecca Ann Rosignolo (:]] 13:26, 13 June 2010 (PDT)

congrats on the new job!! I live pretty near by, I'll try to pop in one day:)--Peggy Piper 18:05, 13 June 2010 (PDT)

hahaha thankss!!! BUT I WILL MAKE SURE I AM DEFINATELY FREE FOR OUR TRIP!! The food is good, i havent personally tried any yet, but it looks and smells delicious. (: --[[User:Rosignolo|Rebecca Ann Rosignolo (:]] 21:48, 13 June 2010 (PDT)

Hello Rebecca, This is Mr. DeCoster, one of the other teachers. I work with Ms. Piper on NITARP and am amazed at how she picks up this Wiki stuff. I also work with her at YERKES and the ARCS program. I am practicing leaving a comment. I also tried to start my "student" page at Niles West part of Wiki that you are certainly welcome to comment on.
[I am just copy/pasting this message to each of your group.]
--[[User:Decoster|Richard DeCoster]] 12:00, 21 June 2010 (PDT)

Talk:Justin Christensen

2010-06-21T18:58:35Z

Decoster:

Hey Justin, nice start, you are also a great student!! How bout adding an image, any old thing that you grab from online. also add a couple of headings, sub headings using the equal signs.--Peggy Piper 10:44, 1 June 2010 (PDT)

Hello Justin, This is Mr. DeCoster, one of the other teachers. I work with Ms. Piper on NITARP and am amazed at how she picks up this Wiki stuff. I also work with her at YERKES and the ARCS program. I am practicing leaving a comment. I also tried to start my "student" page at Niles West part of Wiki that you are certainly welcome to comment on.
--[[User:Decoster|Richard DeCoster]] 11:58, 21 June 2010 (PDT)

File:NITARP-Z UMa Paint zoom.JPG

2010-06-21T18:12:37Z

Decoster: Z UMa zoomed in at max power with Z612 camera. fov ~ 3.5 degrees.

Z UMa zoomed in at max power with Z612 camera. fov ~ 3.5 degrees.

File:NITARP-Z UMa Paint wider.JPG

2010-06-21T18:11:17Z

Decoster: UMa with Z UMa a bit more zoomed in.

UMa with Z UMa a bit more zoomed in.

File:NITARP-UMa Paint.JPG

2010-06-21T18:09:31Z

Decoster: Wide anlge overview of Ursa Major with the approximate position of Z UMa indicated.

Wide anlge overview of Ursa Major with the approximate position of Z UMa indicated.

Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Current Research Activities

2010-06-21T16:42:53Z

Decoster: /* Niles West High School in Skokie, Illinois */

=[[Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Proposal]]=

'''Here is the link to our Spring 2010 proposal http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/teacher_research/r4-variab/variabProposal.pdf'''

=[[Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Summer visit]]=

We will be arriving on Thursday Aug 5, departing Aug 9 in hopes of working the three full days of Aug 6, 7 and 8. '''[[Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Summer visit | CLICK HERE for details]]'''

= [[Generating Light Curves - APT and Excel ]] =

You can find info to help you practice using APT to generate light curves on this page.

[[File:test stars comp.jpg]]

== Standard Deviation for Dummies ==

Our Astronomers said it would be important for us to understand standard deviation. We found the button on Excel that calculates it for us, but doesn't really explain what it is. Here's an explanation and example.

Standard deviation is a statistical measure of spread or variability. The standard deviation is tells you how closely the data are clustered around the average. We want to use the aperture and background subtraction settings that give us the smallest standard deviation for a star that is not varying. Our varying stars will of course have large standard deviations because they ARE varying.

Formula: [[image:stddev.jpg]]

Standard Deviation
standard deviation formula

where Σ = Sum of
X = Individual score
M = Mean (average) of all scores
N = Sample size (Number of scores)

'''Example: Find the Standard deviation of 3,2,1,1,and 3'''

Step 1: Calculate the mean (average) and deviation.
{| border="1"
|-
|'''X'''
|'''M'''
|'''(X-M)'''
|'''(X-M)2'''
|-
|3
|2
|1
|1
|-
|2
|2
|0
|0
|-
|1
|2
|(-1)
|1
|-
|-
|1
|2
|(-1)
|1
|-
|3
|2
|1
|1
|-
|}

Step 2:Find the sum of (X-M)2
1+0+1+1+1 = 4

Step 3:N = 5, the total number of values.Find N-1.
5-1 = 4

Step 4:Now find Standard Deviation using the formula.
√4/√4 = 1

= '''Individual School Pages''' =
== '''Communicating on Wiki!!!''' ==
Wiki will tell you when anyone makes an edit or comment to any page if you 
 -log in, click on my preferences, put your whole name in for your signature if you want, check off all of the boxes at the bottom to turn on the email function
 -go to the pages you want to "watch" and click on on the Watch tab, you'll get an email if there is a change to these pages
 -watch your practice page and everyone elses practice pages for now so you know any of us make a comment or put up something new
 -'''Please''' make comments using the discussion tab on anything and everything right now!
 -if you feel the urge to make the comment on the actual page, that's ok for any pages under Variability of the Mid IR Sky seeing that these are our pages, but if you comment on the main coolwiki, use the discussion page.

== [[Lincoln-Way North High School in Frankfort, Illinois]] ==
[[Image:Phoenix.jpg]][[Image:LWN.jpg]][[Image:Phoenix.jpg]] 
'''Teacher - Peggy Piper - Students - Joey R. - Rebecca R. - Justin C.''' 
Here are our light curves with standard deviations for the three test stars using Source Model B. From top to bottom in each graph, they are stars #1, #2, and #3. 

'''Mrs. P Question to you - which aperture background should we choose? Why?
 

Joey's Data for Aperture 3, Background 10 20 
[[File:Joey 3 10 20.jpg|600px|thumb|center|Joey aperture 3 background 10-20]]

Rebecca's Data for Aperture 5, Background 5 10
 
[[File:Rebecca5510.jpg|600px|thumb|center|Rebecca aperture 5 background 5-10]]

Joey's Data for Aperture 10, Background 12 20 
[[File:Joey 10 12 20.jpg|600px|thumb|center|Joey aperture 10 background 12-20]]

===[[LWN Data Files | CLICK HERE for our working data]]===
 
===[[LWN Student Practice Pages]]===
 

== [[Niles West High School in Skokie, Illinois]] ==

Teacher - Rich DeCoster 
Student - Alexander 
Student - Aneesh
 

Here are two light curves by Alex 
[[image:Var Star with Avg.jpg|thumb|600px|center]] 
[[Media:APT_star_1_and_2.xls]] 

 

===[[Niles West Student Observing Pages]]===

 
===[[Niles West Student Practice Pages]]===
 

== [[North Middle School, Great Falls, Montana]] ==

click on title above to get page to edit

Teacher - Beth Thomas
Student - Drew B.
Student - Dallas F.
 

=Summer Discussion Topics=

==How Does Spitzer Work==

So let's start looking into the details of how Spitzer works! I put a few subheadings below, we can add more as we go. Lets start with the mission. How 'bouts each of you come up with some facts about the history, the purpose, the reason Spizter was launched. There's plenty of info and links on this coolwiki.

Rules:

# come up with and list 5 facts (not here, on History/Mission page!)
# you can't repeat someone else's fact (if you do this soon, its easier - poor Joey's out of town til Sat!)
# once facts are up, come up with several questions about someone else's facts and post them below the fact (make sure you hit the signature button so we know who's talking)

This time we'll talk right on the topic page instead of the discussion page.Click on History/Mission to see how I started. Ha - I took the easy ones!

===[[History/Mission]]===

===[[Physical Aspects]]===

===[[IR Channels]]===
 

==[[Variable Stars]]==

http://aavso.org/vstar/
 
==[[Our Glorious Leaders]]==

Most Definitely a couple of Cool Dudes

[[File:cooldudes.jpg]]

[[Media:DonSteveArt2008.pdf | Here is link to ‘‘DARK MATTER’’ IN ACCRETION DISKS by Steve Howell and Don Hoard that is of interest]]
 

=Other items=
This is Rich. I hope I am not causing confusion. It is 11:15 am CST on Friday Jan. 22, 2010. I am trying to see what this does, since I have "editing" status here. Is this something we use instead of email, or is it a place to create documents that we edit together?
Rich
ps-Should something like this be in the "discussion" tab rather than the "article" tab?

Hi Rich - no, you're not causing confusion, you're doing it exactly right! These pages under "current research activities" are really sort of "shared white boards". The other half of the wiki (under "research tools") are more articles, and in those cases, yes, questions should go into the discussion pages. I copied some headers in here, but please see some of the "current research activity" pages for the other current teams to see how they are using their pages. (e.g., [[CG4_Current_Research_Activities| cg4's page]]) Oh, and you can use this for whatever you want -- proposal preparation, conversation, sharing plots, brainstorming, etc. --[[User:Rebull|Rebull]] 13:12, 22 January 2010 (PST)

File:NITARP-Lyr Cyg Paint-5550-.JPG

2010-06-21T15:04:32Z

Decoster: Cygnus [partial] and Lyra to show location of Chi Cyg and other variable stars in the wide field.

Cygnus [partial] and Lyra to show location of Chi Cyg and other variable stars in the wide field.

Talk:Rich DeCoster -not a student

2010-06-21T14:47:10Z

Decoster:

Hey Rich, good job! Why is it fuzzy, is your original fuzzy? It shouldn't change when you upload it. Or is it a screen capture? Maybe you could try putting the original in paint, making your markings and then uploading that (unless thats what you already did).

Where is the traditional cygnus cross compared to this? --Peggy Piper 08:23, 20 June 2010 (PDT)

Thanks Peggy-I had not yet set up a Watch list I guess-I think I have now. I made cosmetic changes to my page. The fuzziness was because I compressed the original picture to make it small and then uploaded. I think, by monkey seeing... your formats, I uploaded the uncompressed version and then made it fit.
Chi Cyg is between Deneb and Albireo, more specifically between eta and beta [aka Albireo[ in the neck of the swan. One of the slides inthe ppt shows this, but I should have a slide upfront of where one is looking.
The other long period variable I hope to have my students follow is the non-regular "poster child" of AAVSO, Z UMa. I've started a folder for that; so far it is empty.
Now we see if you/I get an email alerting us to my having done this.
How is HOU?
--[[User:Decoster|Richard DeCoster]] 07:47, 21 June 2010 (PDT)

Talk:Peggy Piper

2010-06-21T14:35:37Z

Decoster:

Very nice, Mrs. P! I did lol at the cow births (I didn't know they came from cocoons! And I wanna be a vet. :D)Hope the trip goes well! --[[User:Romero|Joey Romero]] 11:09, 7 June 2010 (PDT)

Rich is trying to follow some of your directions as well. I plan to meet with one of my students on Thursday I hope and will try to get him to do some of this.--[[User:Decoster|Decoster]] 07:35, 21 June 2010 (PDT)

Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Current Research Activities

2010-06-20T19:29:18Z

Decoster: /* Niles West High School in Skokie, Illinois */

=[[Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Proposal]]=

'''Here is the link to our Spring 2010 proposal http://coolcosmos.ipac.caltech.edu/cosmic_classroom/teacher_research/r4-variab/variabProposal.pdf'''

=[[Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Summer visit]]=

We will be arriving on Thursday Aug 5, departing Aug 9 in hopes of working the three full days of Aug 6, 7 and 8. '''[[Variability of the Mid-IR Sky Summer visit | CLICK HERE for details]]'''

= [[Generating Light Curves - APT and Excel ]] =

You can find info to help you practice using APT to generate light curves on this page.

[[File:test stars comp.jpg]]

== Standard Deviation for Dummies ==

Our Astronomers said it would be important for us to understand standard deviation. We found the button on Excel that calculates it for us, but doesn't really explain what it is. Here's an explanation and example.

Standard deviation is a statistical measure of spread or variability. The standard deviation is tells you how closely the data are clustered around the average. We want to use the aperture and background subtraction settings that give us the smallest standard deviation for a star that is not varying. Our varying stars will of course have large standard deviations because they ARE varying.

Formula: [[image:stddev.jpg]]

Standard Deviation
standard deviation formula

where Σ = Sum of
X = Individual score
M = Mean (average) of all scores
N = Sample size (Number of scores)

'''Example: Find the Standard deviation of 3,2,1,1,and 3'''

Step 1: Calculate the mean (average) and deviation.
{| border="1"
|-
|'''X'''
|'''M'''
|'''(X-M)'''
|'''(X-M)2'''
|-
|3
|2
|1
|1
|-
|2
|2
|0
|0
|-
|1
|2
|(-1)
|1
|-
|-
|1
|2
|(-1)
|1
|-
|3
|2
|1
|1
|-
|}

Step 2:Find the sum of (X-M)2
1+0+1+1+1 = 4

Step 3:N = 5, the total number of values.Find N-1.
5-1 = 4

Step 4:Now find Standard Deviation using the formula.
√4/√4 = 1

= '''Individual School Pages''' =
== '''Communicating on Wiki!!!''' ==
Wiki will tell you when anyone makes an edit or comment to any page if you 
 -log in, click on my preferences, put your whole name in for your signature if you want, check off all of the boxes at the bottom to turn on the email function
 -go to the pages you want to "watch" and click on on the Watch tab, you'll get an email if there is a change to these pages
 -watch your practice page and everyone elses practice pages for now so you know any of us make a comment or put up something new
 -'''Please''' make comments using the discussion tab on anything and everything right now!
 -if you feel the urge to make the comment on the actual page, that's ok for any pages under Variability of the Mid IR Sky seeing that these are our pages, but if you comment on the main coolwiki, use the discussion page.

== [[Lincoln-Way North High School in Frankfort, Illinois]] ==
[[Image:Phoenix.jpg]][[Image:LWN.jpg]][[Image:Phoenix.jpg]] 
'''Teacher - Peggy Piper - Students - Joey R. - Rebecca R. - Justin C.''' 
Here are our light curves with standard deviations for the three test stars using Source Model B. From top to bottom in each graph, they are stars #1, #2, and #3. 

'''Mrs. P Question to you - which aperture background should we choose? Why?
 

Joey's Data for Aperture 3, Background 10 20 
[[File:Joey 3 10 20.jpg|600px|thumb|center|Joey aperture 3 background 10-20]]

Rebecca's Data for Aperture 5, Background 5 10
 
[[File:Rebecca5510.jpg|600px|thumb|center|Rebecca aperture 5 background 5-10]]

Joey's Data for Aperture 10, Background 12 20 
[[File:Joey 10 12 20.jpg|600px|thumb|center|Joey aperture 10 background 12-20]]

===[[LWN Data Files | CLICK HERE for our working data]]===
 
===[[LWN Student Practice Pages]]===
 

== [[Niles West High School in Skokie, Illinois]] ==

Teacher - Rich DeCoster 
Student - Alexander 
Student - Aneesh
 

Here are two light curves by Alex 
[[image:Var Star with Avg.jpg|thumb|600px|center]] 
[[Media:APT_star_1_and_2.xls]] 

 
===[[Niles West Student Practice Pages]]===
 

== [[North Middle School, Great Falls, Montana]] ==

click on title above to get page to edit

Teacher - Beth Thomas
Student - Drew B.
Student - Dallas F.
 

=Summer Discussion Topics=

==How Does Spitzer Work==

So let's start looking into the details of how Spitzer works! I put a few subheadings below, we can add more as we go. Lets start with the mission. How 'bouts each of you come up with some facts about the history, the purpose, the reason Spizter was launched. There's plenty of info and links on this coolwiki.

Rules:

# come up with and list 5 facts (not here, on History/Mission page!)
# you can't repeat someone else's fact (if you do this soon, its easier - poor Joey's out of town til Sat!)
# once facts are up, come up with several questions about someone else's facts and post them below the fact (make sure you hit the signature button so we know who's talking)

This time we'll talk right on the topic page instead of the discussion page.Click on History/Mission to see how I started. Ha - I took the easy ones!

===[[History/Mission]]===

===[[Physical Aspects]]===

===[[IR Channels]]===
 

==[[Variable Stars]]==

http://aavso.org/vstar/
 
==[[Our Glorious Leaders]]==

Most Definitely a couple of Cool Dudes

[[File:cooldudes.jpg]]

[[Media:DonSteveArt2008.pdf | Here is link to ‘‘DARK MATTER’’ IN ACCRETION DISKS by Steve Howell and Don Hoard that is of interest]]
 

=Other items=
This is Rich. I hope I am not causing confusion. It is 11:15 am CST on Friday Jan. 22, 2010. I am trying to see what this does, since I have "editing" status here. Is this something we use instead of email, or is it a place to create documents that we edit together?
Rich
ps-Should something like this be in the "discussion" tab rather than the "article" tab?

Hi Rich - no, you're not causing confusion, you're doing it exactly right! These pages under "current research activities" are really sort of "shared white boards". The other half of the wiki (under "research tools") are more articles, and in those cases, yes, questions should go into the discussion pages. I copied some headers in here, but please see some of the "current research activity" pages for the other current teams to see how they are using their pages. (e.g., [[CG4_Current_Research_Activities| cg4's page]]) Oh, and you can use this for whatever you want -- proposal preparation, conversation, sharing plots, brainstorming, etc. --[[User:Rebull|Rebull]] 13:12, 22 January 2010 (PST)